Recursive Methods in Economic Dynamics

A (very) rare macroeconomics textbook that's rigorous, and excellently done on top of it. The presentation style is the same as to what you'd find in a math textbook but with a slower pace and very specific scope of treating microfoundations of macroeconomics. The one mathematical tool used is dynamic programming. The book is divided into three parts: 1. Deterministic problems, e.g. a growth model with no shock in productivity. 2. Stochastic problems, e.g. a growth model with Markovian shocks in productivity. 3. Competitive equilibria and welfare theorems, I recommend some familiarity with elementary analysis: For part 1, The type of arguments used don't go beyond the level of, say, Rudin's undergrad text on analysis. Part 2 delves into a little measure theory but the author confine themselves to the bare bones, only what is needed to prove relevant results. The treatment is very gentle and self-contained. They define the Lebesgue integral against an arbitrary measure but does not construct the Lebesgue measure on the line (which takes some doing). Monotone class lemma, a single lemma in a real analysis book, is given its own section. Same goes for conditional expectation. Part 3 is about welfare theorems. Only very basic notions from functional analysis is used here. It's evident that a conscious decision was made to make the presentation as focused as possible. No unnecessary definitions and proofs, e.g. the notion of Banach spaces is not mentioned, Hanh-Banach theorem is only stated, analysis is only done on a normed vector space in the normed topology. In fact, the main result from Part 2, the stochastic Principle of Optimality, should be treated functional analytically. But this would require introducing extra notions and is not done in the book.

The book looks good. The jacket still looks good—the product is fitted for its price.

The book was delivered on time. With slight underling and not-so good quality paper, the book was great.

This book is an excellent choice for those who want to become familiar with the Real Analysis part of Mathematics that is needed in Economics. The chapters on Dynamic Programming (deterministic and stochastic) are very good. It is an essential book for someone who want to study Macroeconomics. Read this, before reading Sargent and Ljungqvist.

A must have if you are taking a PhD in Economics. A great book, with a lot (but not all) of good material for a basic Macro course. However, don't fool yourself thinking that one book will be enough for Macro. Differently from Micro, where we have Mas-Colell or Reny, there isn't a complete Macro textbook.

The text deserves five bright, glowing stars! Economists know the significance of this great book. However, great books deserve great bindings, and the binding on this printing of the book is far from great. It is certainly true that it is the content of the book that matters. But, given the book’s excellent and important content, most readers learning recursive dynamics from this book will end up spending hundreds of hours with it, and will treasure their copy of it throughout their lives. The attention to the quality of the binding should reflect this. If the publisher upgrades the binding, they should upgrade the paper as well so that keeping a copy for 50 years a reasonable proposition.

This book is very important for the clearity and the elegancy of the mathematic methods that the auctor uses for explicating the application to macroeconomy. From the measure theory we arrive at theorem of the fixed point and the finite difference equations. It is important also the duality betwwen production and consumption.

Good Book! Good delivery speed! Really enjoy the experience of reading it. This is a classic economic theory book. I suggest any economic graduate student should buy one.

本書は経済学を学ぶ上で欠かせないツールであるdynamic programmingを解説したものであり、大学院レベル（もしくはそれ以上）の経済学を学ぶ者にとっては必需品であろう。このレベルで、self-containedかつ経済学と密接に絡めてDPを解説している本は、他にはSundaram, A First Course in Optimization Theory くらい（但しSundaramにはstochastic DPについての解説はない）か。（例えばLjunqwist and Sargent の解説は絶望的に分かりづらい。）練習問題も豊富であり、有用。 ただし、numericalに解を求める実践的な方法については全くと言っていい程触れられていない。これについてはAdda and Cooper, Dynamic Economics: Quantitative Methods and Applicationsが有用。また、測度論的確率論についての章を含め、stochastic DPについての章が若干読みづらいのも難点。一応self-containedにはなっているが、測度論的確率論については他の本で勉強して、直観的理解を身に着けておいた方がよい。それから連続時間のDPを扱っていないことにも注意。 さて、本書ではいわゆる動学的一般均衡モデルが中心的な例として使われているが、search modelや動学ゲームなど、応用範囲は広い。ただし、応用例に幾つか章が割かれているものの、基本的には数学のテキストであり、理論家でない限り、本書に過度に執着することは薦められない。

Writing anything about this book is unnecessary, given that everyone that looked for it knows perfectly how useful is in the study of dynamic macroeconomics and the mathematics behind. Even though is not as deep as Math oriented Dynamic Optimization book, it perfectly match the topic with problems you will face in your lectures or research work.

DPの本としてあまりにも有名な本書。執筆者もStokey,Lucas,Prescottと正に現代マクロ経済学を造りあげた超大御所。 個人的に最重要なのは３、４章だと思う。これを読めばDPとは何か、どういうメカニズムで解が求まるのかが一通り理解できると思う。後は簡単な計算問題が解ければ（大学院の修士レベルでは）とりあえず十分だと思う。 難点は他の評者も書かれているが、stochastic DPの部分がとてもわかり難い。というか数学者や工学者の人達から観ると間違っているという話も聞いたことがあるくらい。後numericalに解を求める方法も一切ない。 ただもう一度言うが３、４章は一度は目を通す価値があると思う。自分は初め３、４章のみコピーして使った。

不確実性のないDPを扱った3,4章を独学で、測度論とマルコフ過程を扱った7,8章を講義で読みました。 3,4章は不確実性がない離散時間のDPの理論を勉強するには最適だと思います。位相や解析学の基礎だけ分かっていれば、 correspondenceや縮小写像の理論を含めて本書で学ぶことができます。説明も明瞭で演習も豊富で独学に向いていると思います。 7.8章は測度論やマルコフ過程の章ですが、独学向きかと言われるとNOです。はじめて測度論を学ぶ人がこのテキストを使うのは おすすめしません。特に7章はところどころ定理などの主張を本質的に変えてしまう誤植があります(例えばRadon-Nykodimの定理やBaire関数の定義)。 ただ講義で教官と輪読するのにはいいと思います。上のような誤植も、教官が気づくことを前提とすれば問題ないでしょう。