Uni Reading List

Economics

Intermediate Macroeconomics

6 books for Intermediate Macroeconomics, part of the Economics course map, listed from introductory to advanced. 1 of them have an official free edition.

Suggested reading compiled by this site for university students and independent learners. This is not an official university reading plan. Check your own syllabus before buying; editions and exercise numbers differ.

Books in this reading list · 6
  1. Macroeconomics
  2. The Economy 2.0: Macroeconomics
  3. Macroeconomics
  4. Macroeconomics: Institutions, Instability, and Inequality
  5. Advanced Macroeconomics
  6. Recursive Macroeconomic Theory

Study guides

Compare three books with short trial tasks, follow a six-step reading route, and test your reasoning with worked examples and changed assumptions.

EconomicsIntermediate Macroeconomics

Macroeconomic models: close the equations before using a multiplier

Compare a free evidence-led text with two intermediate routes, then solve original spending, tax and debt examples with explicit model boundaries.

Reading order

  1. Macroeconomics

    Paul Krugman; Robin Wells Beginner

    A principles-level macroeconomics textbook known for explaining ideas through stories and real economic episodes. It builds the standard tools for thinking about output, unemployment, inflation and growth, and applies them to fiscal and monetary policy, inflation and disinflation, and the international economy, with algebra confined to short appendices.

    Prerequisites: No prior economics is needed; basic graph reading and arithmetic are enough.

  2. The Economy 2.0: Macroeconomics

    The CORE Econ Team Beginner Open access

    Read the official free edition ↗

    A free macroeconomics text linking evidence, institutions and models of unemployment, demand, inflation, finance and economic policy.

    Prerequisites: School algebra and graph reading are enough to start. Before the multiplier unit, distinguish stocks from flows, identify national-income components and solve a linear equation with income on both sides.

  3. Macroeconomics

    N. Gregory Mankiw Intermediate

    A twelfth-edition macroeconomics text comparing income, growth, short-run fluctuations, monetary policy and government debt across model horizons.

    Prerequisites: Introductory economics, algebra and graph reading. Review income accounting, real versus nominal quantities and stocks versus flows; be able to solve a linear equilibrium and state what remains fixed.

  4. Macroeconomics: Institutions, Instability, and Inequality

    Wendy Carlin; David Soskice Intermediate

    An intermediate three-equation macroeconomics text connecting output, inflation and policy with institutions, financial instability and inequality.

    Prerequisites: Introductory macroeconomics and confidence with algebra/diagrams. Review output gaps, inflation rates and real versus nominal interest; distinguish a behavioral relation from a central-bank policy rule.

  5. Advanced Macroeconomics

    David Romer Advanced

    A starting text for first-year graduate macroeconomics, presenting the major theories of growth, fluctuations and policy in formal models and pairing each with the empirical work that tests it. Romer's exposition is compact and self-contained, aiming to bring students to the point where they can read current research and begin their own.

    Prerequisites: Intermediate macroeconomics, multivariable calculus and basic differential equations; some exposure to dynamic optimisation and econometrics helps.

  6. Recursive Macroeconomic Theory

    Lars Ljungqvist; Thomas J. Sargent Advanced

    A graduate text and reference that teaches the recursive methods behind modern dynamic macroeconomics and applies them across a wide range of models. Ljungqvist and Sargent move from dynamic programming and stochastic processes to consumption, asset pricing, search, fiscal and monetary policy, incomplete markets and dynamic contracts, with many exercises.

    Prerequisites: Intermediate macroeconomics, multivariable calculus, linear algebra and probability are assumed; some programming helps with the exercises.