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Articles & Books From Daniel Richards
Master the big picture of economics with clear explanations. Macroeconomics For Dummies, 2nd U.S. Edition brings the world of economic theory down to earth with accessible explanations that anyone can follow. This comprehensive guide tackles the intimidating subject of macroeconomics – the study of entire economies – and breaks it down into digestible, practical lessons that show how economic forces shape your daily life.
Cheat Sheet / Updated 07-17-2026
Macroeconomics is the study of the economy as a whole. What follows are summaries of some key information about how the economy works, including the basics of fiscal and monetary policy, the key summary statistics that macroeconomists examine in order to assess the health of an economy, and how the economy behaves in the short- and long-term.
Article / Updated 12-13-2022
Over the last 50 years, the U.S. economy has grown at an average annual rate of about 2.8 percent. Roughly 1.1 percent has come from population growth: the country typically adds more workers each year. But the majority of it comes from the fact that it gets more productive each year — to the tune of about 1.7 percent annually.
Article / Updated 04-11-2017
Economies run on people, firms, and governments requiring and buying things. A need exists (demand) that firms fulfill (supply). Students of microeconomics spend time learning about the behavior of supply and demand in individual markets. Students of macroeconomics are interested in the economy as a whole, so the emphasis is on aggregate (that is, total) demand for goods and services and aggregate (total) supply.
Article / Updated 10-31-2016
Macroeconomics covers a massive range of subjects. Following are just ten core concepts, ranging from the real value of things and growth compounds to efficient markets.
Ultimately, real things are what count
Economists assume that people care about real things and not about nominal magnitudes. Here are some examples:
Real wage: What really matters about your wage is how much stuff you can buy with it, not its numerical value.
Article / Updated 10-31-2016
Like any academic discipline, macroeconomics relies on the incremental progress of researchers, each building upon and improving previous work — like bricks holding up a wall or, more salubriously, adding new ingredients to old cocktail drinks. Here are five famous economists who had a huge impact on macroeconomics.
Article / Updated 10-31-2016
The field of macroeconomics continues to develop and change as new theories are put forward. Building on the work of great macroeconomists like Keynes and Tobin, here are five famous economists who are having a huge impact on macroeconomics.
Robert Solow (1924–)
Robert Solow is best known for his fundamental work on economic growth.
Article / Updated 10-31-2016
Being a good macroeconomist is in many ways like being a detective at a crime scene. Good detectives carefully collect evidence at the scene and form theories about what may have happened. They use that evidence to test which theories are most plausible.Of course, the evidence from a single crime may or may not prove conclusive.
Article / Updated 10-31-2016
Partly because economists (micro and macro) can't easily conduct lab experiments, and partly because statistical inference is complicated, they turn to building models — simplified versions of reality — in order to think through complex problems.There are several advantages to using formal models:
Macroeconomic problems are complex: They're so complex that trying to tackle them head-on is almost bound to fail.
Article / Updated 10-31-2016
Just like people, economies can also get sick with things such as recessions, high inflation and high unemployment. Much like a doctor, macroeconomists have to observe the economy and try to work out the underlying cause of these problems. After working out the likely cause, they can think about policies that those in charge can implement to return the economy to health.
