In Economic Policy in a Liberal Democracy, Richard E. Wagner offers an approach to welfare economics and economic policy appropriate for a classically liberal society.Professor Wagner explains how welfare economics has been unable to fulfil the aspirations of its advocates because it assumes that the consequences of policy measures are sufficiently knowable to achieve specific and intended outcomes. The standard vision of the corrective state, where the state intervenes to repair economic failures and to achieve beneficial consequences, is revealed to be incoherent because the state lacks the competence to influence economic outcomes. Once the full complexity of the economy is recognized, policy measures are shown to generate a plethora of unintended consequences. What emerges instead is a focus on policy for creating and maintaining a constitutional framework that maintains and supports the liberal order in which people organise their activities.

This book is a unique blend of difference equations theory and its exciting applications to economics. It deals with not only theory of linear (and linearized) difference equations, but also nonlinear dynamical systems which have been widely applied to economic analysis in recent years. It studies most important concepts and theorems in difference equations theory in a way that can be understood by anyone who has basic knowledge of calculus and linear algebra. It contains well-known applications and many recent developments in different fields of economics. The book also simulates many models to illustrate paths of economic dynamics.

Key Features:

.A unique book concentrated on theory of discrete dynamical systems and its traditional as well as advanced applications to economics.
.Mathematical definitions and theorems are introduced in a systematic and easily accessible way.
.Examples are from almost all fields of economics; technically proceeding from basic to advanced topics.
.Lively illustrations with numerous figures.
.Numerous simulation to see paths of economic dynamics.
.Comprehensive treatment of the subject with a comprehensive and easily accessible approach.
Key Features:

.A unique book concentrated on theory of discrete dynamical systems and its traditional as well as advanced applications to economics.
.Mathematical definitions and theorems are introduced in a systematic and easily accessible way.
.Examples are from almost all fields of economics; technically proceeding from basic to advanced topics.
.Lively illustrations with numerous figures.
.Numerous simulation to see paths of economic dynamics.
.Comprehensive treatment of the subject with a comprehensive and easily accessible approach."

Traditional aggregate theories of the business cycle, Keynesian or the neoclassical, have not succeeded in explaining the severe down turns in the United States and other advanced economies. New Perspectives on Business Cycles proposes a theory that economic inequality and heterogeneity in a market economy may be an important influence on business cycles. The author, Satya Das, provides for the first time a systematic assessment of possible links between business cycles and changes in the distribution of income and wealth.Arguing that changes in the distribution of wealth and income in a private market economy can generate variations in the aggregate output, Professor Das uses a series of models to relate economic inequalities across households to fluctuations in the economy. In particular, he argues that severe inequities in wealth and income distribution can lead to fluctuations in a macroeconomy, with important implications for the financial markets. Empirical evidence from the post-war US economy is presented in support of this theory.

What impact do random events have on individuals? How do they adapt to living in an uncertain, stochastic environment? Risk and Uncertainty in Economics pays tribute to the significant contribution made by James L. Ford to our understanding of these questions.In keeping with Professor Ford's own research interests, the essays in this volume include relevant, up-to-date research on a wide range of issues. Contributions by Michael Driscoll, Marcus Miller, David Peel and Somnath Sen consider the macroeconomic impact of risk and uncertainty. Colin Dodds, Atul Dar, Andrew Mullineux, Mansoob Murshed and David Dickinson evaluate various implications of risk and uncertainty for financial markets. John Hey, the late George Shackle, Prasanta Pattanaik and Richard Barrett contribute papers on decision making under risk and uncertainty, while Peter Phillips presents some new statistical results on the Dirichlet distribution. This book will be of interest to all economists who want to understand the importance of analysing the impact of risk and uncertainty in economics.

Monetarism and the Methodology of Economics is a collection of 14 original essays in honour of Thomas Mayer focusing on the themes of monetarism, the transmission mechanism for monetary policy, the political economy of monetary policy and the methodology of empirical economics.This volume addresses the many areas where Thomas Mayer has made a major contribution and brings together a distinguished group of contributors including King Banaian, Mark Blaug, Martin Bronfenbrenner, Richard C.K. Burdekin, Thomas F. Cargill, Milton Friedman, C.A.E. Goodhart, D. Wade Hands, Abraham Hirsch, Kevin D. Hoover, David Laidler, Thomas Mayer, James L. Pierce, Steven M. Sheffrin, Richard J. Sweeney, Thomas D. Willett, Wing Thye Woo. An autobiographical essay by Thomas Mayer and a short appreciation by Kevin Hoover and Steven Sheffrin are included in this volume, together with a bibliography of Mayer's economic writings.

This is the first extensive treatment from a modern Austrian perspective of the history of economic thought up to Adam Smith and as such takes into account the profound influence of religious, social and political thought upon economics. In Economic Thought before Adam Smith, Murray Rothbard contends that laissez-faire liberalism and economic thought itself began with the Catholic scholastics and early Roman and canon law, rather than with Adam Smith. The scholastics, he argues, established and developed the subjective utility and scarcity theory of value, as well as the theory that prices, or the value of money, depend on its supply and demand. This continental, or 'pre-Austrian' tradition, was destroyed, rather than developed, by Adam Smith whose strong Calvinist tendencies towards glorifying labour, toil and thrift is contrasted with the emphasis in Scholastic economic thought towards labour in the service of consumption. Tracing economic thought from the Greeks to the Scottish Enlightenment, this book is notable for its inclusion of all the important figures in each school of thought with their theories assessed in historical context. Classical Economics, the second volume of Professor Rothbard's history of economic thought from an Austrian perspective, is also available.

This major new study of the philosophical roots of economics examines the impact on eighteenth century economic thought of the rivalry between two opposing philosophical outlooks: rationalism and anti-rationalism. The economic thought of this period, William Coleman argues, was a synthesis of these two outlooks.Rationalism and Anti-Rationalism in the Origins of Economics examines the history of this key intellectual debate from Locke, Leibniz and Mandeville, to Hume, Condillac, Turgot and Smith. This authoritative study offers new insights on the work of the eighteenth century rationalists and anti-rationalists and the impact they had on the development of economic thought and analysis. Dr Coleman's book addresses an intellectual conflict which remains relevant today. Neoclassical economics is frequently criticized because some of its assumptions, such as those concerning optimization, rationality and equilibrium, are rationalist in character. This important book explores the intellectual archaeology of this continuing controversy over neoclassical economics, and offers new perspectives drawn from the lessons of the past.

Covering Robert Clower's writings over four decades, this collection brings together important papers that have not been reprinted in any other similar volume and recent material on economic method and theoretical foundations. Issues discussed include the doctrine and methodology of economics, price determination, oligopoly theory and Keynesian economics, as well as some of Professor Clower's substantial reviews of the work of other scholars. Above all, they offer an instructive 'history' of one scholar's attempt to enhance scientific understanding of observed economic phenomena during the last half century. The volume concludes with a complete listing of Professor Clower's publications.

The impact of technical change on employment is investigated in this important new book which offers a critical appraisal of how far current economic analysis and theory can deal with this key policy issue.The Economics of Technology and Employment addresses the impact of technical change on employment from both theoretical and empirical perspectives. After an analytical discussion of theoretical propositions and models put forward by classical and contemporary economists, Dr Vivarelli develops a model to examine the extent to which worker displacement due to technical progress can be offset by compensatory market forces. This model is tested using Italian and US aggregate time-series data. The theoretical discussion and empirical results are combined to demonstrate that the employment impact of labour saving technologies can only be partially counter-balanced by market forces and so economic policy measures could be necessary. This important and innovative volume will be welcomed by economists and policymakers as a major contribution to our theoretical understanding of employment, industrial innovation and technical change.

The problems associated with chronically high inflation and hyper inflation continue to preoccupy policy makers and economists. In Great Inflations of the 20th Century, Pierre Siklos has gathered together major papers by a distinguished group of scholars who use historical episodes to understand and explain a key issue.Beginning with general surveys of historical experiences of hyperinflation and cases of chronic inflation, this volume continues with papers on the conditions which are conducive to generating high inflation. The link between monetary policy and inflation is examined through empirical studies of inflationary episodes in Germany, Hungary and Bolivia. The final part looks at how policy makers can seek to end high inflation with the smallest possible economic cost. Bringing together in one accessible volume a series of acclaimed contributions to the field, Great Inflations of the 20th Century will be a key reference resource for interested scholars and policy makers concerned with the myriad of issues surrounding the beginning and end of high or chronic inflation.

Pieter Hennipman, the leading Dutch economist of the post-war period, made many substantial contributions to economic policy, welfare economics and, latterly, the methodology and history of economic thought during a long and distinguished career.Welfare Economics and the Theory of Economic Policy brings together a key selection of Professor Hennipman's papers - many of which have not been published in English before - which express his profound analysis of the theory of economic policy and his masterful discussion of its definition, character and scope. The pioneering work featured here developed his argument that normative economic statements and economic policies can be analysed scientifically and evaluated with the use of objective criteria. Prominent among these papers are the contributions to welfare economics and Pieter Hennipman's examination of the transition from the view that welfare was exclusively dependent on production to one which saw it as a subjective phenomenon dependent upon consumption. This volume also includes his rigorous and insightful essays on the history of the theory of welfare economics. With a thorough introduction by Donald Walker, this comprehensive volume will improve access to Professor Hennipman's outstanding contributions on the nature of the theory of economic policy as well as papers which place welfare theory in relation to other sections of economic theory in a penetrating and sophisticated manner.

America's first celebrated economist-developer of the Fisher equation, the Fisher hypothesis, and the Fisher separation theorem-offers here a rational foundation for the most fundamental of concepts behind the modern economics: capital and income. This 1906 textbooks explores such ideas as. . the difference between wealth and property rights . why one bankruptcy leads to another . the difficulties of defining income . the "premium" and "price" concepts of interest . risk in the economic arena . and much more.

This is the first English translation of Launhardt's Mathematische Begrundung der Volkswirtschaftslehre (1885), a major contribution to neoclassical economic theory which contains many important and original analyses. This edition will provide the basis for a re-evaluation of Launhardt's outstanding, but undervalued, contribution to economics. Taking the neoclassical emphasis on exchange as the central economic problem, Laundardt begins with a thorough treatment of the pure exchange model, then goes on to extend the treatment to the production of goods and the supply of labour, with a sophisticated general equilibrium perspective. It contains important analyses of savings and the role of capital goods, as well as an outstanding study of transport and the location of industry. Launhardt's book can, with justice, with be described as the first comprehensive treatise on welfare economics. Mathematical Principles of Economics will prove stimulating reading for economic theorists as well as those interested in the history of economics thought.

Volume VII illustrates the administrative aspects that are an on-going component of most economic theory. It demonstrates that before the birth of political economy as a formal discipline, public and private administrators were formulating theories about economic processes as guidelines for administrative decisions. The main theme of this volume revolves around the influence of administrative considerations on the development of economic theory.

This volume focuses on the theme of the dual aspects of method in the development of economic thought. It contains new papers that address methodological issues, and others that deal with the evolution of analytic techniques and the social or personal milieux in which ideas emerged and the extent to which they became part of the body of literature we call political economy.

Demand and Exchange in Economic Analysis provides a rare combination of detailed analysis of a central area of economics with the history of economic thought. The first part of the book examines major attempts to treat mathematically the partial equilibrium concept of demand conceived as a schedule. The second part, after generalizing Cournot's model of trade in a single good, traces the general equilibrium analysis of exchange. This adds to the concept of a demand curve the fundamental interpretation of the rate of exchange, or price ratio, in terms of the amount of one good offered in return for a unit of another good. The similarity in the treatments of Mill, Whewell, Marshall and Walras is revealed along with the emphasis on multiple equilibria. Edgeworth's grand synthesis and extension of Jevons's approach to exchange is then discussed in detail. The book will be of interest to a wide range of economists interested in placing modern theory in historical perspective.

This important book goes beyond generalizations and takes a hard-headed look at the real strengths and weaknesses of Keynesian demand management and supply side economics.Keynesianism has failed to reconcile high levels of competitiveness with full employment. This was confirmed in the 1980s by the performance of the UK, the US and West Germany. Sweeping de-regulation has not proved to be an adequate solution. The book shows how effective supply conditions could supplement Keynesian demand management to achieve sustainable levels of high employment. The measures advocated include a system of industrial relations which allows high wages and job security in return for acceptance of a high pace of technological and organizational change; the promotion of skill development as well as intra-firm training programmes; the formation and encouragement of co-operation between different regions. It is argued that the supportive institutions, coupled with effective demand policies would succeed in marrying high employment with internationally competitive production.

Despite its often mismanaged economy, Africa remains the third largest continent in land mass and population. It continues to offer unexploited business opportunities for entrepreneurs, global corporations, and institutions. Emerging Business Opportunities in Africa: Market Entry, Competitive Strategy, and the Promotion of Foreign Direct Investments presents the basic business modelling for developing appropriate strategies in exploiting these business opportunities in the emerging economy in Africa. This book offers insight into the challenges and successes aiming to encourage researchers and students of business in creating a value for doing business in Africa.

This examination of transport economics brings alive economic theories for students, elucidating traditional concepts by applying them to a real world context. It examines the microeconomic concepts that underpin this sector and the implications for transport markets with real examples from across the EU. Also available is a companion website with extra features to accompany the text, please take a look by clicking below - http://www.palgrave.com/economics/transport/Home.aspx

Oskar Lange was one of the few economists able to observe first hand the three major economic systems that have been the hallmark of the 20th century. He learned about the economic backwardness of peripheral capitalism in pre-war Poland. Later he spent more than twelve years in the bastion of modern capitalism, the United States. After returning to Poland in 1948 he linked his fate to the creation and then reform of the Communist system.This important collection of Professor Lange's work, prepared by his disciple and close friend Tadeusz Kowalik, presents his most important work on the economic theory of socialism, economic planning, Marxism and 'bourgeois' economics. The volume makes an important contribution by improving access to the papers of an economist whose work was at the very heart of the intellectual conflict between socialism and capitalism in the late twentieth century.

Takeshi Amemiya has made a significant contribution to econometric theory over the past 30 years. This volume brings together 34 of his key articles and papers on areas such as limited dependent variables, non-linear simultaneous equations models, time series analysis and error components models. Many of the articles reprinted in this volume are indispensable references for researchers in the relevant fields. The specially written preface outlines the influences and motivations behind Professor Amemiya's work. Studies in Econometric Theory presents in a single volume the most significant work of one of the most important influential econometricians of our time.

This important volume of original essays by a distinguished group of scholars from the evolutionary, institutional and socio-economic schools makes a major contribution to the reconstruction of political economy as an evolutionary science. The book explores the consequences of adopting a broader approach to economics taking into account issues such as historical time and change, individual-institutional interaction, uncertainty and procedural rationality. This carefully edited selection of papers focuses on four themes: theoretical foundations, policy making, empirical enquiry and modelling. A political economy of diversity is advocated by the contributors with analytical specificity and originality applied to a series of topics including industrial and market restructuring, technological change, ecological sustainability, development, monetary aggregates and governmental policy making. By recognising the importance of accepting diversity and complexity when applying economic analysis, this unique and provocative volume makes a seminal contribution at the frontiers of economic theory and identifies a common theme in non-orthodox scholarship.

The rapid development of a series of technologically advanced, industrial economies in the post-war period has challenged conventional understandings of economic growth. The emergence of these economies has reinvigorated the long-standing debate about why some countries grow quickly, and reach high levels of productivity, while others fall behind. Until the emergence of the new growth theory, few neoclassical economists focused upon this important issue despite the existence of a rich tradition among economic historians and economists from more heterodox traditions. The Dynamics of Technology, Trade and Growth draws upon contributions of scholars from different theoretical backgrounds to discuss why economies succeed, or fail, in creating the infrastructure, finance and technology to develop rapidly and 'catch-up' with others. After an overview by the editors of theoretical and practical developments in the economics of convergence and divergence, the book features chapters which discuss the origins of the post-war catch-up and convergence boom, convergence in trade and sectoral growth, capital accumulation, investment and resource allocation, specialization, technological change, and the potential contribution of information and communication technologies. The distinguished contributors bring together in one volume a breadth of scholarship on economic growth, convergence and divergence, ensuring that this book will be widely read by economists interested in growth, technical change and economic development.