ˌmacro-ecoˈnomics, n. pl. (usu. const. as sing.).
Also macroeconomics.
[f. macro- + economic B. n. 2 c.]
The science or study of the economy as a whole. Opp. micro-economics n. pl. So ˌmacro-ecoˈnomic a.
| 1948 Econometrica XVI. 309 (heading) Some conditions of macroeconomic stability. 1948, 1949 [see micro-economics n. pl.]. 1957 Economist 5 Oct. 36/3 The macroeconomic prophets, having seen their forecasts repeatedly falsified, have lost something of their confidence. 1961 G. Ackley Macroecon. Theory i. 4 Macroeconomics deals with economic affairs ‘in the large’. It concerns the over-all dimensions of economic life. 1966 Listener 3 Mar. 312/2 Even within the field of what we call macro-economics—the study of what determines the over-all level of activity and other aspects of the economy as a whole—there have been considerable elements of continuity. 1969 Daily Tel. 1 Nov. 10 The Government may be difficult to challenge in matters of macro-economics or high finance. When it comes to the practical mechanics of daily life, however, in which a convenient coinage matters a great deal, the public is the best judge. 1971 New Scientist 15 Apr. 147/1 The pundits argue about the overall, macro⁓economic effects of the budget. 1975 Times 16 July 15/5 The wonderful world of established macro-economics—no serious unemployment, no intolerable inflation, no controls. |
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Add: macro-eˈconomist n.
| 1964 Economist 26 Dec. 1411/2 Efforts to maintain sterling in its prestigious role as a key international currency by deflating demand more frequently and sharply than many British and Hungarian macro-economists..consider to be desirable. 1979 Amer. Banker 12 July 4/1 Every macro-economist believes that government has been at least partly responsible for business cycle instability in the United States. 1993 Business Week 25 Oct. 48 How macroeconomics went astray... The 1970s. Keynesianism comes under attack when macroeconomists are surprised by the ‘theoretically impossible’ combination of slow growth and high inflation. |