In this fascinating study Gordon Fletcher explores the relationship between the life and work of one of Britain's most distinguished economists, Sir Dennis Holme Robertson (1890-1963). Drawing on a wealth of previously unpublished material, novel forms of evidence - both biographical and literary, together with a fresh reading of Robertson's principal books and essays, Fletcher argues that Robertsonian economics is indelibly stamped with the impression of Robertson the man and that by better understanding the man we shall better understand his economics. He shows that this is particularly the case with respect to the way in which Robertson's thought developed and to its particular characteristics, which have often been described by commentators but never explained. Most interestingly, he accounts for Robertson's breach with his Cambridge colleague J.M. Keynes. With these insights we glimpse the hidden human face of what is all too often regarded as the bloodless discipline, the dismal science.

The essays in this volume describe, analyse and compare the achievements and the failures of societies that adopted market-based economies within a democratic polity after a long period of communist rule (Russia and Eastern Europe) or military authoritarianism (Latin America). Together, they also trace the rocky course of liberal economic policies over the whole twentieth century. Area experts from various disciplines seek to establish the extent to which the historical experience of the several countries explains successful transitions as well as the less successful efforts to adapt institutions to the needs of a market economy. The papers further show the dilemmas faced in both Eastern Europe and Latin America in reconciling the efficiency benefits of market economies and the need to achieve or maintain socially acceptable patterns of income distribution among the strata of income receivers. In addition to the essays themselves, comments are provided to further explore specific issues. Researchers and students in economics, economic history, political science and regional studies, and others interested in the economics of transition to a market system will find this comprehensive collection an invaluable resource.

This collection of original essays has been commissioned especially for this volume in honour of the ideas and work of the late Richard M. Cyert who made a seminal contribution to the fields of industrial organization and change. In keeping with the range and significance of his work, the essays in this book examine the economics of decision making, uncertainty, information processing, learning, evolution and organizational structure. The distinguished set of contributors discusses the following topics: * behavioural and evolutionary theories of the firm * cognitive factors in organization and economic action * the place of rules in organizations * learning from experience and from the knowledge of others * selection in economic change * the impact of information technology and the evolution of organizational forms. This coherent and worthy collection emphasizes the adaptive nature of economic action and the links between economies and studies of human information processing and action. It will be essential reading for scholars with an interest in behavioural and adaptive economics, along with industrial organization.

This thought-provoking book discusses the concept of progress in economics and investigates whether any advance has been made in its different spheres of research. The authors look back at the history, successes and failures of their respective fields and thoroughly examine the notion of progress from an epistemological and methodological perspective. The idea of progress is particularly significant as the authors regard it as an essentially contested concept which can be defined in many ways - theoretically or empirically; locally or globally; or as encouraging or impeding the existence of other research traditions. The authors discuss the idea that for progress to make any sense there must be an accumulation of knowledge built up over time rather than the replacement of ideas by each successive generation. Accordingly, they are not concerned with estimating the price of progress, reminiscing in the past, or assessing what has been lost. Instead they apply the complex mechanisms and machinery of the discipline to sub-fields such as normative economics, monetary economics, trade and location theory, Austrian economics and classical economics to critically assess whether progress has been made in these areas of research. Bringing together authoritative and wide-ranging contributions by leading scholars, this book will challenge and engage those interested in philosophy, economic methodology and the history of economic thought. It will also appeal to economists in general who are interested in the advancement of their profession.

This book makes the bold attempt at proposing a new general theory of economic development founded on the fact-based perspective of economic behaviour. The main premise is that economic institutions and policies must embody 'economic discrimination' if there is to be any chance of real economic development. By economic discrimination, the author means 'treating differences differently' by selecting and supporting economic entities and behaviour that contribute positively to the economy. By presenting a general theory that goes beyond mainstream and ad hoc economic theories, Sung-Hee Jwa provides a new way to look at capitalism beyond the Marxian interpretation, explaining why some economies develop and others don't. The book identifies markets, government and corporations as the 'holy trinity of economic development', that is, the three most important institutions that must work together via economic discrimination to steer the economy towards real transformative progress. It also warns against the current trend of economic egalitarianism or 'not treating differences differently' because it destroys economic incentives and results in an array of economic problems including growth stagnation and worsening income distribution. The theory presented in this book and its implications for development management will be an invaluable resource for development economists, scholars, instructors, researchers and policymakers.

In The Methodology of Macroeconomic Thought, Sheila Dow attempts to bridge the gap between methodology and macroeconomic theory through the study of four different schools of thought in economics - the Neo-Austrian, mainstream, post Keynesian and Marxian traditions - and by seeking to understand their methodological foundations in their own terms. In this substantially-revised new edition of her classic work, Macroeconomic Thought: A Methodological Approach, Dr Dow argues for methodological awareness among practising economists as a basis for constructive debate and reasoned argument. The methodological content has been substantially increased to include material on recent developments in the field. After analysing the historical and methodological development of each of the schools, the author covers the micro-foundations of their macroeconomics and their approaches to key concepts including equilibrium, expectations, money and macroeconomic policy. The author seeks to identify the sources of differences between schools of thought as well as potential and actual commonalities before examining their differences at a conceptual level. Unlike other accounts, mainstream economics is treated here as one school of thought on a par with Neo-Austrian economics, PostKeynesian economics and Marxian economics. The Methodology of Macroeconomic Thought will be welcomed by readers for its description and analysis of these schools in their own terms, as well as for the wider perspective it offers on methodology.

In the 1990s, institutional and evolutionary economics emerged as one of the most creative and successful approaches in the modern social sciences. This timely reader gathers together seminal contributions from leading international authors in the field of institutional and evolutionary economics including Eileen Appelbaum, Benjamin Coriat, Giovanni Dosi, Sheila C. Dow, Bengt-Ake Lundvall, Uskali Maki, Bart Nooteboom and Marc R. Tool. The emphasis is on key concepts such as learning, trust, power, pricing and markets, with some essays devoted to methodology and others to the comparison of different forms of capitalism. An extensive introduction places the contributions in the context of the historical and theoretical background of recent developments in economics and the social sciences.Essential reading for lecturers, researchers, graduates and advanced undergraduates in economics, business studies and sociology, this diverse yet complementary collection of essays will also find a broad readership amongst those wanting to understand the manifest changes apparent within modern socio-economic systems.

Knowledge is fast becoming one of the main sources of wealth, yet it can also become a source of inequalities. The New Knowledge Economy in Europe attempts to determine whether it is possible to hasten the transition towards a knowledge-based economy and enhance competitiveness with increased employment and improved social cohesion across Europe. The book is an amalgamation of the scientific and political agendas which led to the European strategy for the knowledge-based economy adopted by the European Union. Its authors illustrate their own influence on European policy making with contributions on a broad range of subjects, including: * the potential for the growth of a knowledge-based global economy * new challenges for the welfare state * emerging trends in employment * the role of international benchmarking as a policy learning tool * the construction of European identity * the building of multilevel governance required to undertake reforms. The results of the European strategy for the knowledge economy have become apparent throughout the EU in policy areas including research, innovation, single markets, education and employment, amongst others. This is the new blueprint for economic and social modernisation in the EU. The New Knowledge Economy in Europe will be of great interest to academics, managers, public administrators and professional organisations involved in studies of Europe or innovation.

This provocative book challenges traditional tenets about behavioral regulation in society as well as in business. Verner Petersen asserts that attempts to solve ethical problems by creating explicit guidelines, codes and rules discourage individual reflection and responsibility. Likewise, attempts to put important aspects of human life into tabular form, by devising schemes for counting everything that matters, have serious flaws, leading to further erosion of individual responsibility and insight. This book stresses the importance of tacit knowledge, ineffable values and a shared social grammar, as the foundation for individual responsibility and ethical awareness. It shows how the moral fabric of societies may be inculcated, changed and kept alive through individual decisions and actions. Based upon these ideas he argues that the open-endedness of self-regulation is the only viable alternative to modern bureaucratic attempts to regulate and control behavior. Instead of explicit regulation from the outside, putting a leash on a straining economic logic, it argues that this logic can be contained by the self-regulation of business and the responsible entrepreneurship of individual decision-makers. To make this possible Petersen presents a new view of leadership. He shows how spirited leadership can give direction, sense and latitude to employees, and asserts the importance of tacit knowledge and ineffable values for achieving coherence and unity of purpose. Scholars and students interested in management, leadership and ethics will find this well-argued volume intriguing and convincing as will business practitioners, HR professionals and those concerned with public regulation.

In this enlightening book, John Berdell addresses the widely-held belief that classical economics distanced itself from policy issues and public debates regarding the effects of international trade on economic growth in advanced economies. He argues, through a detailed consideration of the evolution and structure of Hume's, Smith's, Ricardo's and Malthus' analyses, that it is not only contemporary international economic theory which takes account of these issues.Berdell uses a series of non-linear dynamic models to illustrate and analyse important aspects of each author's discussion of the interactions between trade and growth. The findings are then extended to create a comparison of the classical models with recent empirical research in this area. Berdell suggests that John Stuart Mill's plan to synthesise and extend Hume's, Smith's and Ricardo's analysis of commercial society was rendered intractable by the limitations of Hume's associationalist psychology. This work will be of great interest to both historians of economic ideas and economists concerned with modelling the interactions between growth and international trade.

The advent of the Information Age has transformed the ways in which individuals work, travel, and conduct their daily activity. Anna Nagurney and June Dong lay out the theory of supernetworks, networks that exist over and above existing electronic networks, in order to formalize decision-making in the Information Age. Supernetworks are conceptual in scope, graphical in perspective, and, with the accompanying theory, predictive in nature. In this book, the authors provide a unifying framework for the study of decision-making by a variety of economic agents including consumers and producers as well as distinct intermediaries in the context of today's networked economy. They provide the conceptual, analytical, and computational tools for the study of supernetworks. Their approach is rigorous and of sufficient generality and detail to give added insight into the behavior and structure of large-scale, interacting and competitive network systems, such as transportation, telecommunication, and financial networks. Areas studied include: supply chain networks with electronic commerce, financial networks with intermediation, telecommunicating versus commuting decision-making, teleshopping versus shopping decision-making, as well as transportation and location decisions. Case studies drawn from practice are provided for illustration purposes. Academics and practitioners in economics, business, and operations research along with management scientists, transportation and logistics researchers, computer scientists and applied mathematicians will find this book fascinating and useful.

Combining deep moral argument with extensive factual inquiry, Richard Miller constructs a new account of international justice. Though a critic of demanding principles of kindness toward the global poor and an advocate of special concern for compatriots, he argues for standards of responsible conduct in transnational relations that create vast unmet obligations. Governments, firms and people in developed countries, above all, the United States, by failing to live up to these responsibilities, take advantage of people in developing countries.
Miller's proposed standards of responsible conduct offer answers to such questions as: What must be done to avoid exploitation in transnational manufacturing? What framework for world trade and investment would be fair? What duties do we have to limit global warming? What responsibilities to help meet basic needs arise when foreign powers steer the course of development? What obligations are created by uses of violence to sustain American global power?
Globalizing Justice provides new philosophical foundations for political responsibility, a unified agenda of policies for responding to major global problems, a distinctive appraisal of 'the American empire', and realistic strategies for a global social movement that helps to move humanity toward genuine global cooperation.
"A work of great political urgency. The theoretical position ... is fresh and original ... No other recent book on Miller's subject displays a similar combination of philosophical imagination and deep engagement in the realities of global political and economic life."
Charles Beitz, Princeton University, The Idea of Human Rights
"Miller breaks a new path. ... a superb example of applied ethics. Its recommendations cannot be ignored by those of us who are critical of American foreign policy, but do not know exactly what alternative to advocate." John Roemer, Yale University

Brian Skyrms presents eighteen essays which apply adaptive dynamics (of cultural evolution and individual learning) to social theory. Altruism, spite, fairness, trust, division of labor, and signaling are treated from this perspective. Correlation is seen to be of fundamental importance. Interactions with neighbors in space, on static networks, and on co-evolving dynamics networks are investigated. Spontaneous emergence of social structure and of signaling systems are examined in the context of learning dynamics.

The globalisation of the world economy is one of the major concepts of our time and is likely to influence thinking and policy making well into the 21st century. Although officially welcomed as a major contribution to world welfare it is held by many to be responsible for low wages and mass unemployment. This book questions the seemingly inevitable progress of globalisation and the role of the state as a powerless institution in a globalised economy. Issues discussed include: * trade liberalisation and the role of the World Trade Organisation in providing global responses to global issues * the globalisation of finance; in particular the integration of capital markets * the role of EMU in limiting the social protection level in member states * the effect of globalisation on the structure of the modern nation-state * a challenge to the conventional image of globalisation, which is viewed as being far less widespread than we are led to believe This book will be of interest to scholars of the international economics, international political economy and international finance.

Economic Science and Practice seeks to bridge the gulf between economic theory and policy and overcome some of the problems created by the specialized nature of much economic research. A distinguished group of academic economists and experienced policymakers, from both Europe and the United States, sheds new light on the relation between theory and practice and reflects on the current state of economics. There is an ever present danger that modern economic theory is becoming too detached from the real world. In contrast to this concern there are those who argue that there is a risk of practitioners and policymakers relying on pre-scientific ideas or ideologies not tested against the latest scientific insights. This book will not only help to improve communication between scientists and policymakers, but will also show how it is possible to strengthen the scientific base of economic policy and improve the social relevance of economic research and education.

The evolutionary approach to economics can be traced back as far as the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries in the work of Darwin, Smith and Malthus. These ideas have gradually developed since that time through Marx, Veblen and Marshall, and have recently experienced considerable attention. This book considers the development of evolutionary economics and its place in economic thought today. The book begins with a concise history of evolutionary economics which develops to examine the variety of approaches within the subject. The discussion continues with a rigorous analysis of why, in contrast to popular belief, evolutionary economics is not alien to neoclassical economics, arguing that it may even be considered to complement neoclassical economics. Continuing along this theme the firm is discussed from an evolutionary and neoclassical standpoint. Leading on from this is a discussion of modern model building in evolutionary economics and its relationship with Schumpeter's developmental work. Model building is examined further in relation to endogenous technological change and economic growth, and the effect that technological change and innovation can have on the spatial distribution of new industry. This book will be of special interest to evolutionary and post Keynesian economists and those interested in technological change and innovation.

Modelling Learning in Economics provides a comprehensive study of how learning processes can be modelled in an economic context. This innovative book investigates the processes involved in economic learning by categorizing different ways of learning, and using mathematical models for their description. The author distinguishes three types of learning processes - non-cognitive, routine-based and associative learning - and, for each of these, a model is proposed. Thomas Brenner also provides an overview of the psychological literature on learning and on the learning models most frequently used in economics. He then goes on to present applications of these models of learning to various economic topics including evolutionary game theory, consumption behaviour, investment behaviour of savers and the diffusion of innovation. In applying the models to economic topics, the author not only presents new insights into learning but also contributes to many topics within economic research. This book will be of interest to economic psychologists and economists working in the areas of game theory, consumer and investment behaviour and the diffusion of innovation.

This second part of a two-volume set continues to describe economists' efforts to quantify the social decisions people necessarily make and the philosophies that those choices define. Contributors draw on lessons from philosophy, history, and other disciplines, but they ultimately use editor Kenneth Arrow's seminal work on social choice as a jumping-off point for discussing ways to incentivize, punish, and distribute goods.
Develops many subjects from Volume 1 (2002) while introducing new themes in welfare economics and social choice theory
Features four sections: Foundations, Developments of the Basic Arrovian Schemes, Fairness and Rights, and Voting and Manipulation
Appeals to readers who seek introductions to writings on human well-being and collective decision-making
Presents a spectrum of material, from initial insights and basic functions to important variations on basic schemes

This volume of new, original essays reflects the lifelong concerns and writings of the person they honor, Professor Howard Sherman. Sherman wrote on a wide range of topics - the causes of recessions, depressions and mass unemployment under capitalism; the difficulties and challenges of establishing viable democratic planning systems under socialism; the down-to-earth realities of economic life in the United States, the Soviet Union and elsewhere; and the theoretical traditions he drew upon to inform these empirical studies, i.e. Keynesianism, institutionalism and, most especially, Marxism. The contributors follow in Sherman's tradition through their careful analysis of topics such as the long-term trends in contemporary global capitalism; the relationship between Marxism and institutionalism; debates over the usefulness of class analysis; the political economy of financial liberalization; lessons from the demise of socialism in the Soviet Union and China; and the possibilities for advancing a workable egalitarian economic agenda. This book demonstrates the continued vibrancy and relevance of radical political economy as a mode of social scientific analysis. Scholars and students in economics, sociology, history, philosophy and political science will find the essays thought-provoking and informative.

The main theme of this book is the methodological problem of rationality in economic thought. The author investigates the different interpretations of this problem advanced by major figures in the history of economic thought.The book examines the history and rationality of the 'theory of value' from Adam Smith to Alfred Marshall and attempts to understand these arguments and criticisms within a general methodological vein. It goes on to provide a complete historical account of the ideas and arguments on value propounded by Smith, Ricardo, Marx, Jevons, Walras and Marshall as well as by more recent scholars such as Sraffa and Debreu and interprets their methodological differences. The author proposes a novel 'pragmatic-pluralist' methodological interpretation which borrows and creatively synthesizes ideas from many sources, including Wittgenstein (language-games), Searle (performatives), Habermas (communicative reason), hermeneutics, Marx and the pragmatic tradition. Rationality in Economic Thought will be of interest to students and scholars of the history of economic thought, economic methodology and the philosophy of the social sciences.

This highly innovative and original book proposes evolutionary microeconomics as a synthesis of the collective schools of heterodox economic thought with complex systems theory and graph theory. The book charts a research programme for evolutionary economics that encompasses the theory of dynamic efficiency and emergence in markets, a computational model of the learning and interacting agent, a competence based theory of the firm and the household, and, via a theory of expectations and plans, an agent-based foundation to macroeconomics. Principally a work of meta-theory, The New Evolutionary Microeconomics argues for a radical refocus of microeconomic research toward the evolutionary nature of institutions, preferences, technology and knowledge. This challenging new book should prove timely and important for evolutionary and computational economists as well as those in the fields of managerial economics, business studies and marketing.

This book brings together John Creedy's most important essays on the history of economic analysis. The book contributes to our understanding of the development of economics by looking at the subject and some of its major players including Pareto, Edgeworth, Marshall and Wicksell, from an historical perspective. It reveals how learning about a subject and its past is critical to understanding current debates.