Things I admire about Blanchard's Macroeconomics...

First and most important, the power and subtlety of the analysis is overwhelming and awesome. Read this book, and you will have a very good idea of how one of the best and more penetrating macroeconomists alive today thinks about macroeconomic issues. The book is a work of genius. (Unfortunately, this also means that the analysis is hard for many of my undergraduates to follow: too many--relevant--balls in the air at once.)

Other excellences:

Figures 1.3 and 1.5--a visual tour of the world

The "Focus" box on page 24--real GDP and computer prices

"Appendix" on page 36--on chain indexes

"In Depth" on page 51--consumer conference and the 1990 recession

"In Depth" on page 92--the Clinton-Greenspan policy mix

"Global Macro" on page 94--German unification and the tug-of-war between the government and the central bank

"Focus" on page 113--Henry Ford and efficiency wages

§6-5--the derivation of the natural rate of unemployment is very well done (as is the proposed redefinition as the "structural rate of unemployment"

§13-2--productivity growth and the nairu

"In Depth" on page 130--how long do the real effects of money last?

"Global Macro" on page 143--Japan in the 1990s

§8-3--inflation and the phillips curve

"In Depth" on page 160--U.S. nairu in the 1990s

"Global Macro" on page 170--Okun's law across countries

§9-3--disinflation--a first pass

§9-5--the Volcker disinflation

"Focus" on page 195--1851 household budget

§12-2--technological progress

Figure 12-5--productivity growth by sector

"Focus" on page 236--diffusion of hybrid corn

§14-2--present value

"Global Macro" on page 282--interest rates and inflation in Latin America

"In Depth" on page 305--is the stock market overvalued?

"In Depth" on page 303--expectations and consumption

"Focus" on page 317--investment and Tobin's q

Figure 18-1--imports and gross exports

Figure 18-7--U.S. real exchange rate

"Global Macro"--Brazilian bonds

"Global Macro" on page 371--Mitterand

"In Depth" on page 389--Reagan and the twin deficits

"Global Macro" on page 405--Keynes vs. Churchill

"Global Macro" on page 408--EMS in 1992

"Focus" on page 420--news and movements in asset prices

§22-2--European unemployment

Table 23-1--hyperinflation

§24-1--transition

§24-2--East Asian crisis

"In Depth" on page 495--rules and the U.S. budget deficit

"Focus" on page 502--monetary policy, what we've learned

Blanchard Deficiencies