TY  - JOUR
AU  - Blanchard,Olivier J.
TI  - The State of Macro
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 14259
PY  - 2008
Y2  - August 2008
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w14259
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w14259.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Olivier J. Blanchard
International Monetary Fund
Economic Counsellor and Director
Research Department
700 19th Street, NW
Rm. 10-700
Washington DC, 20431
Tel: 202-623-7825
Fax: 202-623-7271
E-Mail: blanchar@mit.edu
AB  - For a long while after the explosion of macroeconomics in the 1970s, the field looked like a battlefield. Over time however, largely because facts do not go away, a largely shared vision both of fluctuations and of methodology has emerged. Not everything is fine. Like all revolutions, this one has come with the destruction of some knowledge, and suffers from extremism and herding. None of this deadly however. The state of macro is good. 

The first section sets the stage with a brief review of the past. The second argues that there has been broad convergence in vision, and the third reviews the specifics. The fourth focuses on convergence in methodology. The last looks at current challenges.
ER  -