I got the following msg today from a colleague. His book was just
reviewed in the JEI and the reviewer said the only shortcoming of
the book was that it was only in hardback and very expensive. It is
now out in paperback. the book is a great supplement, especially for
intermediate macro courses, or intro courses with a strong policy
focus.
Doug Orr
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
_____________________________________
Doug, I can submit 10 names of teachers for free copies with a
likelihood of using it in a class. This would most likely be an
introductory or higher macroeconomics course. I need names, full
mailing addresses, campus location and zip codes. They should probably
identify which course they would consider using it in. If you can find
some interest on Pen-L I would appreciate it. Thanks. TKarier
Great Experiments in American Economic Policy
>From Kennedy to Reagan
By Thomas Karier
Praeger Paperback. Westport, Conn. 1998. 248 pages
LC 96-53937. ISBN 0-275-96557-0. B6557 $22.95
Available 01/30/1999 (Info. Updated 10/22/1998)
A cloth bound edition is available: 0-275-95905-8, $65.00
"[This book] offers an important and impressive comparison between the
innovative economic policies of the
Kennedy administration and the controversial experiments of the Reagan
administration. Professor Karier does a
superb job of presenting the central ideas of Keynesians, monetarists,
supply-siders, and free-floaters and then
tracing their successes and failures during the decades of the 1960s and
1980s. This is a valuable book for
anyone trying to understand the economy and the role of economic
experiments. In addition, it will provide an
excellent supplement for any undergraduate course in macroeconomics."
Clair Brown
Professor of Economics and Director, Institute
of Industrial Relations
University of
California, Berkeley
"Karier has produced a masterful history of three costly experiments in
macroeconomic policy in the 1980s. His
book will be an invaluable aid to students in macroeconomics courses who
want to see behind diagrams and
models to what it is really all about. The book is lucidly written with
often wonderful turns of phrase. It brings
macroeconomics alive by deftly teaching the concepts and principles of
macroeconomics in connection with
history. An excellent treatment of the past that is still with us, it is
fair and objective. Professional economists will
also find that this book refreshes their knowledge of this important
period."
John B. Davis
Associate
Professor of Economics
Marquette University
During the 1980s, dramatic changes in the federal budget, the Federal
Reserve, and the U.S. Treasury initiated
the most comprehensive series of economic experiments since the 1930s.
This book describes the nature of those
experiments and compares them to the Keynesian experiment of the 1960s.
The promises that the economic
experimenters made in the 1980s were bold and confident: monetarists
claimed their policies would permanently
subdue inflation and unemployment; supply-siders said their tax cuts
would give the economy new life with
accelerated growth and a balanced budget; and free floaters promised
unprecedented stability in international
markets. Actual results fell far short of these ambitious promises.
At first the economists denied that their experiments had failed, but
when they were faced with overwhelmingly
negative results that were impossible to ignore, they blamed each other
for the failure. After beginning the decade
as a united front against liberalism, the monetarists, suppply-siders,
and free floaters ended the decade hopelessly
divided. This book sorts out the actual occurrences of the 1980s. It
analyzes why events unfolded as they did,
what bearing the results have on the future of economics and the U.S.
economy, what can be explained, and what
mysteries remain.
"Thomas Karier argues that economics, although not usually regarded as
an experimental science, occasionally
produces speculative policy prescriptions that amount to
experiments....He targets monetarism, supply-side
economics, and free-floating exchange rates--three examples from the
1980s--as experimental because their
proponents presented them as hypotheses to be tested....At a time when a
highly touted new textbook in
introductory economics leaves discussion of Keynes to the last chapter,
Karier's readable volume is welcome.
Students of macroeconomics will profit from his analysis and
conclusions."
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