The NBER Macroeconomics Annual provides a forum for important debates in contemporary macroeconomics and major developments in the theory of macroeconomic analysis and policy. . The papers and accompanying discussions in NBER Macroeconomics Annual 2008, whichinclude contributions from leading economists from a variety of fields, address the timing of labor market expansions, macroeconomic dynamics in the Euro area, public health and the GDP, the role of technological progress on the formation of households, carry trades and currency crises, and new approaches to analyzing monetary policy.