Macroeconomics

Macroeconomics is a branch of Economics that deals with the performance, structure, and behavior of the economy as a whole. Macroeconomists seek to understand the determinants of aggregate trends in the economy with particular focus on national income, unemployment, inflation, investment, and international trade. In contrast, microeconomics is primarily focused on the determination of prices and the role of prices in allocating scarce resources.

While macroeconomics is a broad field of study, there are two areas of research that are emblematic of the discipline: The attempt to understand the causes and consequences of short-run fluctuations in national income (the business cycle), and the attempt to understand the determinants of long-run economic growth (increases in national income).