This textbook provides a comprehensive and up to date review of the rapidly expanding business cycle literature. It covers three key strands of the theory which have dominated recent literature in the subject: equilibrium (monetary and real) business cycles, nonlinear business cycle models and political business cycle theories. After surveying the various approaches to business cycle modelling and studying the recent evidence it becomes clear that far more testing of these key business cycle hypotheses has been undertaken using US macroeconomic time series than the equivalent UK series. In an attempt to redress the balance the authors present new results for UK macroeconomic time series and compare and contrast them with previous results from the UK and those derived in the US. In conclusion, the authors consider the implications for policy of the various theories and the empirical results, and make suggestions for future research.
Business Cycles is designed for advanced undergraduate and postgraduate students of macroeconomics and monetary theory and policy and academic economists wishing to keep abreast of the substantial recent developments in this field.