Macroeconomics Study Guide or The Questions of Tenure

Macroeconomics Study Guide

Author: Rosemary Cunningham

Krugman/Wells takes a story-driven approach that focuses on real-world economics at work. The book offers the hallmark clarity and engaging writing style that distinguish Paul Krugman's work, from his best-selling international economics text to his New York Times best-sellers.

Table of Contents:

PART 1. WHAT IS ECONOMICS?
   Introduction: The Ordinary Business of Life
   1. First Principles
   2. Economic Models: Trade-offs and Trade
    Chapter 2 Appendix. Graphs in Economics
   
 PART 2. SUPPLY AND DEMAND
  3. Supply and Demand
  4. The Market Strikes Back
  5. Consumer and Producer Surplus
   
PART 3. INTRODUCTION TO MACROECONOMICS
  6. Macroeconomics: The Big Picture
  7. Tracking the Macroeconomy
   
PART 4. THE ECONOMY IN THE LONG RUN
  8. Long-run Economic Growth
  9. Savings, Investment Spending, and the Financial System
   
PART 5.  SHORT-RUN ECONOMIC FLUCTUATIONS
  10.  Aggregate Supply and Aggregate Demand
  11. Income and Expenditure
    Chapter 11 Appendix: More on the Income-Expenditure Model
  12.  Fiscal Policy
    Chapter 12 Appendix: Taxes and the Multiplier
  13.  Money, Banking, and the Federal Reserve System
  14. Monetary Policy
   
PART 6.  THE SUPPLY-SIDE AND THE MEDIUM RUN
  15. Labor Markets, Unemployment, and Inflation
  16. Inflation, Deflation, and Stagflation
   
PART 7. EVENTS AND IDEAS
  17. The Making of Modern Macroeconomics
      
PART 8. THE OPEN ECONOMY
  18. International Trade
  19. Open-economy Macroeconomics
   

Interesting textbook: Capitalizing on Environmental Injustice or Understanding Institutional Diversity

The Questions of Tenure

Author: Richard P Chait

Tenure is the abortion issue of the academy, igniting arguments and inflaming near-religious passions. To some, tenure is essential to academic freedom and a magnet to recruit and retain top-flight faculty. To others, it is an impediment to professorial accountability and a constraint on institutional flexibility and finances. But beyond anecdote and opinion, what do we really know about how tenure works?

In this unique book, Richard Chait and his colleagues offer the results of their research on key empirical questions. Are there circumstances under which faculty might voluntarily relinquish tenure? When might new faculty actually prefer non-tenure track positions? Does the absence of tenure mean the absence of shared governance? Why have some colleges abandoned tenure while others have adopted it? Answers to these and other questions come from careful studies of institutions that mirror the American academy: research universities and liberal arts colleges, including both highly selective and less prestigious schools.

Lucid and straightforward, The Questions of Tenure offers vivid pictures of academic subcultures. Chait and his colleagues conclude that context counts so much that no single tenure system exists. Still, since no academic reward carries the cachet of tenure, few institutions will initiate significant changes without either powerful external pressures or persistent demands from new or disgruntled faculty.

Library Journal

Most books about academic tenure are based on anecdotal or subjective information, but this one attempts to analyze this contentious topic using empirical research. Chait (higher education, Harvard; Beyond Traditional Tenure) and several colleagues collected faculty employment policy statements from over 200 colleges and universities and then surveyed and interviewed many professors and administrators on a variety of topics related to tenure. This provided the data for the 11 chapters, which range from an overview of current policies to a study of trends in academic employment in foreign countries. Particularly interesting are the discussions about tenure as a hiring incentive and whether faculty might ever voluntarily relinquish tenure, plus the comparison of four U.S. colleges where faculty can earn tenure with four where tenure is not an option. Many tables, figures, and bibliographical references supplement the clearly written text, and a closing chapter on how data can be used to augment decision making cautions that at times tenure's emotional aspects defy numerical evidence. Highly recommended for academic libraries. Will Hepfer, SUNY at Buffalo Libs. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.