An Introduction to Economic Dynamics

Ronald Shone

University of Stirling

Paperback

 (ISBN-13: 9780521804783 | ISBN-10: 0521804787)

DOI: 10.2277/0521804787

• Also available in Hardback | eBook format
• Published September 2001

In stock

 (Stock level updated: 17:59 GMT, 19 April 2008)

Textbook

• Lecturers can request inspection copies of this title.

An examples-driven treatment of introductory economic dynamics for students with a basic familiarity with spreadsheets. Shone approaches the subject with the belief that true understanding of a subject can only be achieved by students themselves setting out a problem and manipulating it experimentally. Although all economics students now have access to spreadsheets, they are often used for little more than graphing economic data. This book encourages students to go several stages further and set up and investigate simple dynamic models. The book presents the essentials of macro and micro economic dynamics, including: demand and supply dynamics, Keynesian dynamics, IS-LM, Inflation-unemployment, dynamics of the firm, rational expectations and saddle points, fiscal dynamics and the Maastricht Treaty and Chaos theory. The Book contains 50 exercises. The support website contains an additional 100 questions for students and 100 for lecturers. Visit www.cambridge.org/resources/economics

• Follow up to the successful Economic Dynamics • Stimulates learning through doing and experimentation • Copious examples drawn from topical subjects in economics • With an accompanying website: visit www.cambridge.org/economics/resources

Contents

Preface; 1. Introduction; 2. Demand and supply dynamics; 3. Simple Keynesian dynamics; 4. Constructing trajectories in the phase plane; 5. IS-LM dynamics; 6. Inflation-unemployment dynamics; 7. Dynamics of the firm; 8. Saddles and rational expectations; 9. Fiscal dynamics and the Maastricht Treaty; 10. A little bit of chaos; Brief answers to selected exercises; Further reading.

Reviews

‘An Introduction to Economic Dynamics by Ronald Shone does a nice job of making the basic ideas of dynamic economics available to a wider range of student by using spreadsheets. It proceeds primarily by example, taken from a wide area of economics. This grounding of the methods in real world examples provides a much livelier discussion for students and presents an innovative introduction to the more advanced methods of economic analysis.’ Steven Turnovsky, University of Washington

‘Shone’s book is based on the philosophy of learning by experimentation. This book, together with a web site with additional downloadable material, provides a modern learning environment which makes economic dynamics even more fun both for undergraduate students and their teachers.’ Professor Cars Hommes, Center for Nonlinear Dynamics in Economics and Finance (CeNDEF), Department of Economics and Econometrics, University of Amsterdam