The big picture marcoeconomics 12e parkin chapter 1flexibility

W H AT I S E C O N O M I C S ?

IX

Flexibility

HOW TO
ASSEMBLE YOUR
COURSE

Introduction
Instructors who have already used Michael Parkin’s Macroeconomics are aware of its
flexibility: There are many ways to teach from this book, depending on your preferences.
Because there is no necessarily right or wrong way to teach a principles of
macroeconomics class, the macroeconomic part can be used in a variety of ways. The
most obvious one is the order in which the chapters are printed. Others are summarized
below.

Macroeconomics
At both the professional and the principles level, macroeconomics is unsettled:
Economists range from Keynesian to monetarist to rational expectations new
classicalists to new Keynesians to real business cycle advocates. Instructors disagree
whether to teach economic growth or business cycles first. My text recognizes these
perspectives and provides a vehicle through which you can place the approach on your
choosing on your course. It is possible to teach a course that emphasizes a Keynesian
perspective or one that takes a monetarist point of view. If you want to teach economic
growth before business cycles, you can do so; if you want to cover business cycles first,
you are equally free to do so. You can adapt the macroeconomic chapters to be the type
of course you want and still be assured of a high quality of presentation.
Table 1 presents all the chapters. It shows the two necessary foundation chapters
and then the large array of chapters that you can cover next. It also shows the

necessary pre-requisite chapters for the concluding three final chapters. Table 1
illustrates how you can emphasize precisely the points you think most important. The
choice is up to you because you can shape the course you want to teach.

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Table 1

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