Reading Mankiw

I am trying to prepare for my Macro final on Wednesday and was able to borrow a few books from Andrew Nelson (one of the third-year PhD students) today. Among the books was Mankiw's Macroeconomics textbook, a book I've heard very good things about. The book has proven itself to be phenomenol -- I just pulled an all-nighter and finished reading through the 500+ pages of the book. I am now getting ready for bed.

For most of this year, I've felt very behind in my economics background -- particularly in macro. Many of my classmates have been studying economics for a long time, many with undergraduate and/or master's degrees in the field. I came into the program with only two MBA econ courses under my belt and they were not too rigourous.

Reading Mankiw's book has been a tremendous help for me in trying to tie several pieces of the macro pie together. It helped illuminate topics like the Solow Growth Model, Mundell Flemming, Menu Costs, Permaent Income Hypotheses, Q-Theory, Efficiency Wages, and more. I definitely want to get a copy for my own library and to help me study for prelims over the summer.

I've known about this book for awhile now. I wish I had tracked it down earlier in the semester, but at least finally doing so two days before the final is much better than two days afterwards.

A big thanks to Mankiw for writing an excellent book and to Andrew for letting me borrow it. I only hope I can remember some of what I just read after I wake up...

P.S. -- Read my previous post on Mankiw here.