The growing policy relevance of insights from microeconomics is captured well in this super entry to Free Exchange on the Economist web site. Last week Al Roth and Lloyd Shapley were jointly awarded the 2012 Nobel Prize in Economics in large part for their ground-breaking world in how to improve welfare outcomes in exchanges where prices are by-and-large absent - a field of economics that studies Matching Markets.The Economist writes about their award here . And Tim Harford offers this perspective on the award. The crisis in macroeconomics is discussed in detail in Diane Coyle's new collection of articles "What's the use of Economics?" - I recommend this book to teaching colleagues, it has important things to say about reforms to what is taught at college and school level in our subject.