In the autumn of 1990 there was a sense of change taking place in the world economy. Readiness for war was occurrin~ in the Middle East and a recession was already underway in a few major countries. The forces of reform and political re-shaping were visible in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union. We economists, gathering in Osaka, Japan, under the auspices of the International Institute for Advanced Studies (Kyoto) could recognize that the Cold War was over and that politico-economic restructuring would take place among the powers in the Warsaw Treaty Organization. Much has happened since the latter part of 1990 to affect international economic stability. The events of that period were both positive and negative for economic stability, but our concern was weighted towards the negative side. Dur charge and sponsorship was scholarly, and the papers from the learned contributors to the symposium and this resulting volume used the many tools of economic analysis to try to understand the ongoing developments. In the intervening period, while this volume was being prepared and edited, we did not cnange our viewpoints in any fundamental way, and we can take satisfaction in the way our symposium either relates to the unfolding sequence of events in a substantive sense or provides a framework in which to study these events.

Lawrence Klein, University of Pennsylvania Jaime Marquez, Federal Reserve BoarrI* All examination of the economics literature over the last twenty years reveals a marked tendency towards polarisation. On the one hand, there has been a propensity to develop theoretical models which have little connection with either empirical verification or problems requiring immediate attention. On the other iland, empirical analyses are generally typified by testing for its own sake, with limited examination of the implications of the results. As a result, the number of papers confronting theory with facts towards the solution of economic problems has been on the decline for years. To fill this growing gap in the literature, we have invited a number of authors to write papers using both theoretical and empirical techniques to address current issues of interest to the profession at large: the US trade deficit and the global implications of policies that attempt to reduce it, the international ramifications of the debt crisis, the international oil market and its implications for the US oil industry, and the development of new econometric techniques. In addressing these issues, each author has approached the subject matter from an eclectic standpoint - that is, avoiding strict adherence to a given doctrine.

Two important new developments have occurred that have significant impact on the evolution of econometrics, namely, the end of the Cold War and the emergence of the information revolution in nearly all economies of the world.

The information revolution has had significant effect on data flows, making them much more timely, accessible, and descriptive of more parts of the economy. At the same time, it has changed the industrial structure of many economies, giving rise to increasing importance of the tertiary sectors (e.g. services). The new generation of hardware and software enables econometricians to handle larger and more complex problems, especially those that are data intensive and computer intrusive.

These major events require reconsideration and redrafting of some of the materials of the original edition.

The present volume retains the original structure of "Lectures on Microeconomic Theory" and takes up principles of constructing dynamic macroeconometric models and their use in economic analyses and forecasting, while introducing many updates, revisions and extensions. The description of the econometric methodology has been limited to specific applications of time series analysis, and the title has been changed to "Principles of Macroeconometric Modeling."

The first four chapters discuss the principles of specifying equations of structural macromodels, covering both developed marked economies, transition economies and world-wide models. The remaining chapters cover some major issues in the use of macromodels. The point of departure is model simulation, especially of the prevailing non-linear models, which is followed by model validation. The analysis of model dynamics covers economic fluctuations and the relevant implications of non-stationarity. The use of macromodels in policy analysis is presented next; it includes multiplier analysis and scenario simulations. The monograph ends up with forecasting being a special case of simulation analysis.