Macroeconomic Research, Present and Past

Philip Glandon, Kenneth Kuttner, Sandeep Mazumder and Caleb Stroup

No 29628, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: How is macroeconomic research conducted and what is it trying to accomplish? We explore these questions using information gleaned from 1,894 articles published in ten leading journals. We find that over the past 40 years there has been a growing emphasis on increasingly sophisticated quantitative theory, such as DSGE modeling, and papers employing these methods now account for the majority of articles in macro journals. The shift towards quantitative theory is mirrored by a decline in the use of econometric methods to test economic hypotheses. Econometric techniques borrowed from applied microeconomics have to a large extent displaced time series methods, and empirical papers increasingly rely on micro and proprietary data sources. Market imperfections are pervasive, and the amount of research involving financial frictions has increased significantly in the past ten years. The frequency with which non-macro JEL codes appear in macro articles indicates a great deal of overlap between macroeconomics and other fields.

JEL-codes: A11 A14 B22 B41 E00 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cwa, nep-dge, nep-his, nep-hpe, nep-mac and nep-sog
Note: EFG ME
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

Published as P. J. Glandon & Ken Kuttner & Sandeep Mazumder & Caleb Stroup, 2023. "Macroeconomic Research, Present and Past," Journal of Economic Literature, vol 61(3), pages 1088-1126.

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Journal Article: Macroeconomic Research, Present and Past (2023)
Working Paper: Macroeconomic Research, Present and Past (2019)
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