Railroads, our first large corporations, are rapidly adapting to the deregulated climate of the 1990s. As we approach the 21st century, this book tells the story of the changing role of railroads in our economy and how the law has changed to meet the new competitive environment. Topics include abandonment and extension, railway labor law, rail passenger service, short line spinoffs, special problems of railroad employment and parallel deregulatory activity in Canada.

The authors deal with the changing railroad environment by describing the rail network of today, which has shrunk in route-miles but is in better shape than at any time since World War II. The changing role of rail employment is discussed, as well as government operation of Amtrak and commuter rail services. What regulation remains with the Interstate Commerce Commission and Federal Railroad Administration is described in detail. Finally, the authors go north of the border to show how Canada is facing rail deregulation and how Canadian railroads are playing a major part in the U.S. transportation scene. The authors close with a look at railroading as we approach the 21st century. Dooley and Thoms have written a comprehensive book for lawyers and rail enthusiasts alike.

Uncertainty could be associated with wisdom, enterprise, and discovery. In ordinary speech, however, it has mostly negative connotations. There is "fear of the unknown" and "ignorance is bliss;" there are maxims to the effect that "what you don't know doesn't hurt you" (or: "bother you") in several languages. This volume suggests that we need be bothered by the excessive confidence with which scientists, particularly social scientists, present some of their conclusions and overstate their range of application. Otherwise many of the questions that should be raised about all the major uncertainties attending a particular issue routinely may continue to be thwarted or suppressed. Down playing uncertainty does not lead to more responsible or surer action, it sidetracks research agendas, and leaves the decision makers exposed to nasty surprise. This volume demonstrates that recognizing the many forms of uncertainty that enter into the development of any particular subject matter is a precondition for more responsible choice and deeper knowledge. Our purpose is to contribute to a broader appreciation of uncertainty than regularly accorded in any of the numerous disciplines represented here. The seventeenth-century French philosopher Descartes, quoted in this volume, wrote that "whoever is searching after truth must, once in his life, doubt all things; insofar as this is possible. " White areas left on maps of the world in past centuries were a much more productive challenge than marking the end of the known world with the pillars of Hercules.

Aggregation of individual opinions into a social decision is a problem widely observed in everyday life. For centuries people tried to invent the best' aggregation rule. In 1951 young American scientist and future Nobel Prize winner Kenneth Arrow formulated the problem in an axiomatic way, i.e., he specified a set of axioms which every reasonable aggregation rule has to satisfy, and obtained that these axioms are inconsistent. This result, often called Arrow's Paradox or General Impossibility Theorem, had become a cornerstone of social choice theory. The main condition used by Arrow was his famous Independence of Irrelevant Alternatives. This very condition pre-defines the local' treatment of the alternatives (or pairs of alternatives, or sets of alternatives, etc.) in aggregation procedures. Remaining within the framework of the axiomatic approach and based on the consideration of local rules, Arrovian Aggregation Models investigates three formulations of the aggregation problem according to the form in which the individual opinions about the alternatives are defined, as well as to the form of desired social decision. In other words, we study three aggregation models. What is common between them is that in all models some analogue of the Independence of Irrelevant Alternatives condition is used, which is why we call these models Arrovian aggregation models. Chapter 1 presents a general description of the problem of axiomatic synthesis of local rules, and introduces problem formulations for various versions of formalization of individual opinions and collective decision. Chapter 2 formalizes precisely the notion of rationality' of individual opinions and social decision. Chapter 3 dealswith the aggregation model for the case of individual opinions and social decisions formalized as binary relations. Chapter 4 deals with Functional Aggregation Rules which transform into a social choice function individual opinions defined as choice functions. Chapter 5 considers another model &endash; Social Choice Correspondences when the individual opinions are formalized as binary relations, and the collective decision is looked for as a choice function. Several new classes of rules are introduced and analyzed.

Research in Health Economics has developed into a separate discipline during the last 25 years. All this intense research activity has come about through the teaching of courses on health economics, mostly at graduate level. However, the Industrial Organization aspects of the health care market do not occupy a central place in those courses. We propose a textbook of health economics whose distinguishing feature is the analysis of the health care market from an Industrial Organization perspective. This textbook will provide teachers and students with a reference to study the market structure aspects of the health care sector.

The book is structured in three parts. The first part will present the basic principles of economics. It will bring all readers to the required level of knowledge to follow subsequent parts. Part II will review the main concepts of health economics. The third part will contain the core of the book. It will present the industrial organization analysis of the health care market, based on our own research.

Managing New Product Development and Innovation provides a new approach to the microeconomics of innovation by measuring the technical quality of new products and guiding the managers of innovation and technology in the central considerations of today's knowledge-based companies. The volume features a selection of practical microeconomic tools for managing new product development and innovation. By quantifying product features and evaluating the costs and market value of improvements, a simple yet powerful conceptual framework is created. Using this framework, creative business models can be built, along with innovative products, services and processes that achieve marketplace success. The authors address five key questions facing managers of knowledge-based companies: * Which new features should be added to existing products? * Which radically new features should be innovated? * How can marketing and R&D be integrated? * How can the value of brand names be estimated and optimized? * How can the sophistication of product technology be measured - both at a given point in time and between two points in time? This path-breaking volume will be essential reading for managers of innovation, and will be warmly welcomed by teachers and advanced students with an interest in innovation and industrial economics.

In a bold attempt to formulate a tentative, unified conceptual framework for the study of global development, the author tries to integrate numerous contributions from a variety of fields, including economics, sociology, anthropology, political science, moral philosophy, sociobiology, neurobiology, and others. He regrets the present compartmentalization of study of this topic, which leads to a lack of perspective in dealing with crucial planetary problems. . . . Truly an ambitious and courageous effort and a worthy project. Recommended for academic and public library collections dealing with development. "Choice"

This book breaks important new ground in the international debate over development by presenting the first systematic attempt to map a unified theory of global development. Drawing from the fields of economics, sociology, political science, philosophy, and ethics, the author presents a unique cross-disciplinary perspective on international development that features a number of new concepts and approaches to development studies. Building upon a synthesis of three independent developments of the 1970s, Weigel contends that it is possible to construct a universal development norm and a universal moral principle which retain their credibility in both cross-cultural and transhistorical contexts. He argues further that when these principles are linked to a well-differentiated theory of basic human needs they provide a powerful normative framework for the integration of economic and political rights which can guide policymakers well into the 21st century.

Certain to spark new debate among academicians and policymakers, Weigel's work makes a number of significant contributions, including: a comprehensive synthesis between moral philosophy and development studies; the most elaborate philosophical defense of the I.L.O's 'Basic Needs Approach' to date; an analysis of the nuclear arms race which utilizes the concept of stable strategies and presents a new theory of nuclear deterrence; a macroeconomic framework for basic needs program; an analysis of global parameters for development assistance; country studies which demonstrate the feasibility of Basic Needs programs for low-income countries; the application of the theory to a wide variety of topic areas such as paternalism, population control policies, the problem of political legitimation, and economic policies. Throughout, the author focuses on the concept of basic needs, arguing that the satisfaction of basic human needs must be the touchstone of all future development policies.

Air Transport Networks provides an economic analysis of the way in which the air transport industry operates and the nature of the policies that have been adopted to regulate the sector. The book covers domestic and international air transportation with an emphasis on airlines and includes discussions of related markets such as airports and air traffic control. The authors provide details of how the sector functions and the reasons why the airline industry performs as it does today and explore the ways in which governments have, over the years, attempted to manipulate air transport markets to meet political objectives. This volume will be warmly received by those interested in the operations and the influences that public policy has on the air transport sector. Air Transport Networks will also appeal to policymakers and to those working in the air transportation sector.

Attempting to reveal the real causes of the 1929 stock market crash, Bierman refutes the popular belief that wild speculation had excessively driven up stock market prices and resulted in the crash. Although he acknowledges some prices of stocks such as utilities and banks were overprices, reasonable explanations exist for the level and increase of all other securities stock prices. Indeed, if stocks were overpriced in 1929, then they more even more overpriced in the current era of staggering growth in stock prices and investment in securities. The causes of the 1929 crash, Bierman argues, lie in an unfavorable decision by the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities coupled with the popular practice known as debt leverage in the 1920s corporate and investment arena.

This book extends Bierman's argument in an earlier book, "The Great Myths of 1929 and the Lessons to Be Learned" (Greenwood, 1991), in which he discussed and refuted seven myths about 1929 but could not explain the crash. He now believes he has a reasonable explanation. He also examines the actions of Charles E. Mitchell and Sam Insull and their subsequent unjust criminal prosecution after the crash of the 1929 stock market.

Significant recent changes in the structure and composition of households make the study of the economic relationships within the household of particular interest for academics and policy-makers. In this context, Household Economic Behaviors, through its focus on theoretical and empirical chapters on a range of economic behaviors within the household, provides a new and timely viewpoint. Following the Introduction and one or two surveys which give a general background, the volume includes theoretical and empirical perspectives on allocation of available time within the household, monetary and non-monetary transfers between household members, and intra-household bargaining.

This book is an impressive collection of essays that examines the economic crisis and political collapse that took place in Weimar Germany from 1924 to 1933.

The book conducts a comparative study on the form of enterprise, focusing on broadly defined cooperative firms in comparison with conventional capitalist firms. It explores the essential advantages and disadvantages of the different types of firms and attempts to answer why capitalist firms are so prevalent in our economy.

The book attempts to explain these questions from the viewpoint of "market failure" in the framework of standard microeconomic theory. In this analytical framework, it proposes an alternative system of business organization based upon consumer cooperatives and the market for their memberships, which can coexist consistently with the system of capitalist firms and the stock market within a single market economy.

The existing studies of the cooperative sector have been rather ideological. The analytical framework that is presented in this book helps promote scientific exploration of cooperative and other types of firms, which are indispensable and potentially promising constituents of our society.

How can we effectively aggregate disparate pieces of information that are spread among many different individuals? In other words, how does one best access the ?wisdom of the crowd Prediction markets, which are essentially speculative markets created for the purpose of aggregating information and making predictions, offer the answer to this question. The effective use of these markets has the potential not only to help forecast future events on a national and international level, but also to assist companies in providing, for example, improved estimates of the potential market size for a new product idea or the launch date of new products and services.

The markets have already been used to forecast uncertain outcomes ranging from influenza outbreaks to the spread of other infectious diseases, to the demand for hospital services, to the box office success of movies, climate change, vote shares and election outcomes, to the probability of meeting project deadlines. The insights gained also have many potentially valuable applications for public policy more generally. These markets offer substantial promise as a tool of information aggregation as well as forecasting, whether alone or as a supplement to other mechanisms like surveys, group deliberations, and expert opinion. Moreover, they can be applied at a macroeconomic and microeconomic level to yield information that is valuable for government and commercial policy-makers and which can be used for a number of social purposes.

This volume of original readings, contributed by many of the leading experts in the field, marks a significant addition to the base of knowledge about this fascinating subject area. The book should appeal to all those with an interest in economics, forecasting or public policy, and in particular those with an interest in the study of money, investment and risk.

Upon its publication in 1989, this was the first systematic and comprehensive analysis of the Latin American School of Development and an invaluable guide to the major Third World contribution to development theory. The four major strands in the work of Latin American Theorists are: structuralism, internal colonialism, marginality and dependency. Exploring all four in detail, and the interconnections between them, Cristobal Kay highlights the developed worlda (TM)s over-reliance on, and partial knowledge of, dependency theory in its approach to development issues, and analyses the first major challenges to neo-classical and modernisation theories from the Third World.

* Presents many of the microeconomic and macroeconomic theories and schools of thought not generally covered in mainstream principles of economics textbooks * Each chapter starts with a short "refresher" of standard neoclassical economic modelling before demonstrating how that model is distorted by people, problems and events in the real world to provide students with a more realistic picture of how the economy works * Updates throughout and new material on populism, racism, inequality, climate change and the covid-19 pandemic * Now has online supplements: quiz questions for students and PowerPoint slides for instructors

Nancy and Richard Ruggles's seminal work on prices has a contemporary relevance for modern-day theorists and practitioners. These carefully selected essays provide a core analysis of pricing systems and the behavior and measurement of prices. Initially, the authors examine pricing systems and the role of prices in the theories of value and income distribution. They examine the theory of marginal cost pricing and the welfare basis of the marginal cost pricing principle before focusing on the problems of measuring price changes over time and space. They also examine the reliability of domestic price statistics and price indices and offer an evaluation of the wholesale price index. They expand this analysis to examine the behavior of prices, costs, wage rates and earnings in the United States economy, placing particular emphasis on inflation between 1950 and 1973 and on price stability and economic growth. This book will be invaluable to academics, statisticians and policymakers with an interest in micreoconomics and pricing.

This book consists of four parts: I. Labour demand and supply, II. Productivity slowdown and innovative activity, III. Disequilibrium and business cycle analysis, and IV. Time series analysis of output and employment. It presents a fine selection of articles in the growing field ofthe empirical analysis of output and employment fluctuations with applications in a micro-econometric or a time-series framework. The time-series literature recently has emphasized the careful testing for stationarity and nonlinearity in the data, and the importance of cointegration theory. An essential part of the papers make use of parametric and non-parametric methods developed in this literature and mostly connect their results to the hysteresis discussion about the existence of fragile equilibria. A second set of macro approaches use the disequilibrium framework that has found so much interest in Europe in recent years. The other papers use newly developed methods for microdata, especially qualitative data or limited dependent variables to study microeconomic models of behaviour that explain labour market and output decisions.

First published in 1986, the Malaysian economy has grown remarkably since 1970 but despite this poverty is still widespread. This book examines the record of economic development in Malaysia over this period and evaluates the success of the New Economic Policy. In particular it examines the merits of the trusteeship strategy in its aim to eradicate poverty and in socioeconomimc restructuring.

First published in 1977, this is an applied economics text, in which the basic theory of any introductory economics couurse is applied to a whole range of UK macro- and micro-economic policy issues. The book is designed specifically for first and second year university students, with the aim of demonstrating the relevance of theory to policy, how theory can be applied to policy problems and, in the process, to improve their understanding of the theory itself.

A collection of essays by a number of internationally-known economists, this book is essential reading for those interested in development policy in the Third World. It provides new insights on a number of long-standing controversies about development policy in such fields as external constraints, import substitutions, the debt problem, direct foreign investment, counter-trade, IMF conditionality and the impact of currency devaluation.

Japan's economy is invariably seen as a prime example of a capitalist system, and a consideration of the elements upon which the Japanese economy is founded seems to lead inexorably to the conclusion that Japan is an established member of the group of highly developed capitalist nations. Yet a country's internal mechanisms can differ markedly from the system as perceived externally. Although not yet widely recognized, a new kind of economic system has developed in Japan, a system that differs greatly from traditional capitalism. The author of this book has observed Japanese industry from the inside. He provides detailed explanations of the unique features of the new corporate system and how it differs from the system of orthodox capitalistic corporations.

This is a new edition - with a substantial new introduction - of a book which has had a significant impact on economics, philosophy and political science. Robert Sugden shows how conventions of property, mutual aid, and voluntary supply of public goods can evolve spontaneously out of the interactions of self-interested individuals, and can become moral norms. Sugden was among the first social scientists to use evolutionary game theory. His approach remains distinctive in emphasizing psychological and cultural notions of salience.

Classical microeconomics is intended to explain how a price system is able to coordinate the economic agents. But even if it can be extended to incomplete information and externalities, it remains grounded on very heroic assumptions. Agents are endowed with a very strong rationality, equilibrium is stated without a concrete process to achieve it, market is the unique institution considered. Evolutionary microeconomics is aimed at bypassing these limitations by considering a dynamic approach, however not biologically oriented. Agents have local information and bounded rationality, they are involved in explicit processes of interactions through time, various institutions sustain the market or substitute to it. It explains then some phenomena hardly explained by classical microeconomics: dispersion of prices, variety of industrial structures, financial bubbles.

Provides a conceptual set of tools for how to approach environmental issues in a rigorous and thoughtful manner, based on an analysis of incentives, property rights, market failure, supply and demand constraints, and insights from behavioral economics. Easy-to-read and filled with real-world examples of the most complex environmental challenges, " "this book demonstrates that sound economic analysis and reasoning can be one of the environmental community's strongest allies.

On May 20, 1976, the Economics Department of the City College of the City University of New York held its fourth annual conference. Eight papers followed by eight com ments were delivered on the topic of "Economics of Informa tion." These papers and comments are published in this volume along with a brief introduction. This publication has been made possible by income from the Harry Schwager Fund. My colleagues in the Economics Department have been generous when called upon to read and evaluate the papers. Professor Morris Silver, chairman of the department, was helpful at each stage of the project. Bob Leiter, my colleague and joint editor of these papers, died on August 19, 1976, while we were in the process of editing this volume. He was instrumental in organizing the Economics Department's annual conferences from their beginning in 1973 and for editing or jointly editing the con ference volumes. The Economics Department's Memorial Resolution, which follows, best expresses our sense of loss at his premature death."