The book ends with a brief epilogue that reviews the broad lessons about which most macroeconomists agree and discusses some of the most important open questions. Regardless of which chapters an instructor chooses to cover, this capstone chapter can be used to remind students how the many models and themes of macroeconomics relate to one another. Here and throughout the book, I emphasize that despite the disagreements among macroeconomists, there is much that we know about how the economy works.

本次修订，作者既纳入了新近发生的事件和经济动态，也反映了宏观经济思想基于新近研究的演化，并在章节结构上进行了适当的调整。主要变化有：增加了“金融系统：机会和危险”一章。该章详述了金融系统的功能，对金融危机进行了解剖，介绍了政策制定者对危机做出的反应，并探讨了如何预防危机。将原来第19章关于银行在货币系统中的作用和中央银行如何影响货币供给的内容提前到第4章，与该章关于货币职能、货币量控制及货币量衡量的内容共同组成新的一章。