Zuoshi Xie / Jin Chen
This book will change the way you think about macroeconomics for good. It strips away the blackboard abstractions and exposes what’s really driving economic outcomes. Read it once, and you’ll never misread the economic climate again.Early on, the book introduces pseudo-GDP-an original concept developed by Professor Xie-to cut through the illusion of false prosperity and challenge core assumptions behind government intervention. It goes further, arguing that GDP accounting has no real logic of production behind it, and that among its three components, only investment truly drives growth. From this foundation, Professor Xie offers a bold new explanation for why China’s system of public land ownership has fueled its extraordinary economic growth.This book dismantles the conventional separation of aggregate supply and demand, treating them instead as two sides of the same coin. Recessions, it argues, stem from erroneous production-not insufficient effective demand, as conventional theory holds. This single insight renders the textbook AS-AD model obsolete.Building from first principles and plain common sense, the book reveals how exchange rates really adjust: real exchange rates move either through nominal rates or through wages and prices-turning exchange rate theory into a practical lens for understanding today’s global economy.It offers fresh, original perspectives on the income gap and optimal tariffs, departing sharply from conventional wisdom. Nearly every page rewards careful readers with a new way of seeing familiar problems.This isn’t another theory added to the pile. It’s a unified framework that finally connects the dots. 6
