William J. Baumol received his B.S.S. at the College of the City of New York and his Ph.D. at the University of London. He was professor of economics at New York University and senior research economist and professor emeritus at Princeton University. He was a frequent management consultant to major firms in a wide variety of industries in the United States and other countries as well as to a number of governmental agencies. He was former president of the American Economic Association and three other professional societies. Dr. Baumol served as an elected member of the National Academy of Sciences, created by the U.S. Congress, as well as a member of the American Philosophical Society, founded by Benjamin Franklin. Dr. Baumol authored more than 35 books as well as hundreds of journal and newspaper articles that have been translated into more than a dozen languages. Alan S. Blinder earned his B.A. at Princeton University, his M.A. at the London School of Economics and his Ph.D. at MIT. He teaches at Princeton University and most recently authored ADVICE AND DISSENT (Basic Books, 2018), which is about the very different worldviews of economists and politicians—and the consequences of that clash. Dr. Blinder served on President Clinton's first Council of Economic Advisers and then as vice chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, thereby playing a role in formulating both the fiscal and monetary policies of the 1990s. Dr. Blinder, now a regular columnist for The Wall Street Journal, has written newspaper and magazine columns on economic policy for more than thirty years. He is a past vice president and a Distinguished Fellow of the American Economic Association. John L. Solow received his B.A. from Yale University and his M.A. and Ph.D. from Stanford University. He is Professor of Economics at the University of Iowa. Dr. Solow has published articles in the areas of industrial organization, sports economics and energy economics, and his research interests include antitrust law and economics sports economics and public policy. He has worked at the Federal Energy Administration and the Electric Power Research Institute. In addition, he has served as a consultant to the U.S. Departments of Energy and Justice, Mid-American Energy, Qwest Telecommunications and numerous law firms. Dr. Solow has also been a visiting scholar at Stanford University, the University of Auckland in New Zealand and Monash University in Australia.

• I.Getting Acquainted with Economics 1.WHAT IS ECONOMICS? 2.THE ECONOMY: MYTH AND REALITY 3.THE FUNDAMENTAL ECONOMIC PROBLEM: SCARCITY AND CHOICE 4.SUPPLY AND DEMAND: AN INITIAL LOOKII.The Macroeconomy: Aggregate Supply and Demand5.AN INTRODUCTION TO MACROECONOMICS 6.THE GOALS OF MACROECONOMIC POLICY 7.ECONOMIC GROWTH: THEORY AND POLICY 8.AGGREGATE DEMAND AND THE POWERFUL CONSUMER 9.DEMAND-SIDE EQUILIBRIUM: UNEMPLOYMENT OR INFLATION?10.BRINGING IN THE SUPPLY SIDE: UNEMPLOYMENT AND INFLATION?III.Fiscal and Monetary Policy11.MANAGING AGGREGATE DEMAND: FISCAL POLICY 12.MONEY AND THE BANKING SYSTEM 13.MONETARY POLICY: CONVENTIONAL AND UNCONVENTIONAL 14.THE FINANCIAL CRISIS AND THE GREAT RECESSION 15.THE DEBATE OVER MONETARY AND FISCAL POLICY 16.BUDGET DEFICITS IN THE SHORT AND LONG RUN 17.THE TRADE-OFF BETWEEN INFLATION AND UNEMPLOYMENT IV.The United States in the World Economy18.INTERNATIONAL TRADE AND COMPARATIVE ADVANTAGE 19.THE INTERNATIONAL MONETARY SYSTEM: ORDER OR DISORDER?20.EXCHANGE RATES AND THE MACROECONOMY V.The Economy Today 21.CONTEMPORARY ISSUES IN THE U.S. ECONOMY