Macro: The Economic Models That Shape Our World

Macroeconomics and macroeconomic policies shape our lives in profound ways, influencing everything from the price of groceries to the likelihood we’ll have a job next year. But much of what we hear about macroeconomics—from politicians, pundits, and even professors—bears little resemblance to how economists think about policy or to people’s actual experiences. Clearly, economists haven’t done a great job explaining their work to us—until now.

Macro is an inviting tour through the world of modern macroeconomics, taking readers to the research frontier—HANK, a framework that will change how we see inflation, debt, recessions, and more.?

In clear and engaging prose, Chicago economist Greg Kaplan demystifies how our everyday behavior connects to the biggest questions in fiscal and monetary policy. Tracing the evolution of economic thinking from Keynes to today, he guides readers through the models used to explain our economy, uncovers their flaws, and reveals what cutting-edge research tells us about managing the economy in good times and bad. These earlier models are valuable, Kaplan argues, but those that underlie much of conventional wisdom are fundamentally out of touch with the realities of how people spend and save, particularly the millions of Americans living paycheck to paycheck.

The journey culminates in the HANK (Heterogeneous Agent New Keynesian) model, the current state of the art that is more consistent with reality. HANK accounts for our diverse spending and saving habits and will transform the way we think about economic policy.

Written for anyone who wants to truly understand how our economy works, Macro is the long-overdue book that bridges the gap between pioneering research and real-world behavior.