Perpustakaan UIN Jurai Siwo Lampung

When we decided to write a text on macroeconomics in 1977, we had in mind bringing the important lessons of the 1970s into mainstream teaching. Inflation was as much an issue then as deep recessions, but it was not integrated into the basic texts. There was a need for a textbook that could usefully guide students and teachers over the full range of business-cycle problems, whether the issue was how to stop inflation in an overheating economy or how to meet the challenge of creating employment in a depressed economy. At the time, the inflation problem was new to textbooks, and many of the standard answers to recession economics needed upgrading.

Now, 15 years later, we are at it again. This sixth edition of Macroeconomics reflects three concerns: First, we have maintained the middle-of-the-road approach. Students should learn foremost what is established and useful, not what is esoteric or at best speculative. There is plenty of room to bring in new ideas, but the emphasis must be on what can be asserted with great confidence as right and to the point. Second, we have tried to reflect the changing tone and emphasis that emerges from the past decade of macroeconomic events and scholarly research. There is no reason to belittle the powerful battle that has been going on in the profession; we do give it full and substantial coverage, but as reporters and teachers, not as proponents of a school. Third, we have been merciless in forcing ourselves to cut the material in this book— by nearly 25 percent. There is an enormous amount that could be added, but the challenge for the teacher is clearly to focus on what is central, to teach a way of thinking, giving the student the framework and the references to go further if he or she wishes to do so. We are confident we have accomplished that goal.

Our book is used today not only in the United States but around the world, in many languages and far more countries, from Canada to Argentina to Australia, all over Eurupe, in India, Indonesia, and Japan, from China and Albania to Russia. Even before the Czech Republic gained independence from communism, an underground translation was secretly used in macroeconomics seminars at Charles University in Prague. There is no greater pleasure for teachers and textbook authors than to see their efforts succeed so concretely around the world.