This collection of specialized papers, written by well-known scholars in their fields of macroeconomics, does an excellent job of not only explaining the financial crisis but also answering some of the concerns that policy makers have raised regarding the effectiveness of both monetary and fiscal policy. -- R.M.Ramazani, Choice

Olivier Blanchard is Economic Counselor and Director of the Research Department at the International Monetary Fund. He is the author of Macroeconomics, among other books, and coauthor of Lectures on Macroeconomics (MIT Press). David Romer is Herman Royer Professor of Political Economy at the University of California, Berkeley, and author of Advanced Macroeconomics. Michael Spence, co-recipient of the 2001 Nobel Prize in Economics, is Professor Emeritus of Management at Stanford University's Graduate School of Business and Professor of Economics at New York University's Stern School of Business. He served as Chairman of the Commission on Growth and Development from 2006 to 2010 (the life of the commission). He is the author of The Next Convergence: The Future of Economic Growth in a Multispeed World. Joseph Stiglitz, co-recipient of the 2001 Nobel Prize in Economics, is University Professor at Columbia University. He served as Chairman of the U.S. Council of Economic Advisers in the Clinton administration, and from 1997 to 2000 as World Bank Chief Economist and Senior Vice President in Development Economics. He is the author of Freefall: Free Markets and the Sinking of the World Economy, Globalization and Its Discontents, and other books. David Romer is Herman Royer Professor of Political Economy at the University of California, Berkeley. Michael Spence, co-recipient of the 2001 Nobel Prize in Economics, is Professor Emeritus of Management at Stanford University's Graduate School of Business and Professor of Economics at New York University's Stern School of Business. He served as Chairman of the Commission on Growth and Development from 2006 to 2010 (the life of the commission). He is the author of The Next Convergence: The Future of Economic Growth in a Multispeed World. Joseph Stiglitz, a 2001 Nobel Laureate, is University Professor at Columbia University.