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A masterful introduction to the key ideas behind the successes-and
failures-of free-market economics Since 1946, Henry Hazlitt's
bestselling Economics in One Lesson has popularized the belief that
economics can be boiled down to one simple lesson: market prices
represent the true cost of everything. But one-lesson economics
tells only half the story. It can explain why markets often work so
well, but it can't explain why they often fail so badly-or what we
should do when they stumble. As Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul
Samuelson quipped, "When someone preaches 'Economics in one
lesson,' I advise: Go back for the second lesson." In Economics in
Two Lessons, John Quiggin teaches both lessons, offering a
masterful introduction to the key ideas behind the successes-and
failures-of free markets. Economics in Two Lessons explains why
market prices often fail to reflect the full cost of our choices to
society as a whole. For example, every time we drive a car, fly in
a plane, or flick a light switch, we contribute to global warming.
But, in the absence of a price on carbon emissions, the costs of
our actions are borne by everyone else. In such cases, government
action is needed to achieve better outcomes. Two-lesson economics
means giving up the dogmatism of laissez-faire as well as the
reflexive assumption that any economic problem can be solved by
government action, since the right answer often involves a mixture
of market forces and government policy. But the payoff is huge:
understanding how markets actually work-and what to do when they
don't. Brilliantly accessible, Economics in Two Lessons unlocks the
essential issues at the heart of any economic question.
In 2012, Australia took the major step of introducing a carbon
price, involving the creation of a system of emissions permits
initially issued at a fixed price. Carbon Pricing brings together
experts instrumental in the development, and operation, of
Australia's carbon policy who have played a significant role in the
broader debate over climate change policy. Together they have
achieved an in-depth analysis of Australia's policy stance on
pricing carbon and its implications for the wider economy. While
the future of carbon pricing is itself unclear in Australia, the
experiences, insights and conclusions outlined herein will prove
invaluable to a global audience. The assessment of the initial
operation of the carbon price provides a wide range of insights
into the problems of mitigating climate change, and the prospects
for the future. The critical analysis will provide a valuable
resource to inform wider international debates concerning
alternative mechanisms for internalising the carbon externality,
tax reform, climate scepticism and carbon farming initiatives. With
its interdisciplinary approach, Carbon Pricing, will appeal to
scholars and researchers of economics in general and climate
change, natural resources and energy policy in particular. Those
organisations and policymakers involved in similar experiments and
processes in other countries will find the experiences and analysis
invaluable.
In the graveyard of economic ideology, dead ideas still stalk
the land.
The recent financial crisis laid bare many of the assumptions
behind market liberalism--the theory that market-based solutions
are always best, regardless of the problem. For decades, their
advocates dominated mainstream economics, and their influence
created a system where an unthinking faith in markets led many to
view speculative investments as fundamentally safe. The crisis
seemed to have killed off these ideas, but they still live on in
the minds of many--members of the public, commentators,
politicians, economists, and even those charged with cleaning up
the mess. In "Zombie Economics," John Quiggin explains how these
dead ideas still walk among us--and why we must find a way to kill
them once and for all if we are to avoid an even bigger financial
crisis in the future.
"Zombie Economics" takes the reader through the origins,
consequences, and implosion of a system of ideas whose time has
come and gone. These beliefs--that deregulation had conquered the
financial cycle, that markets were always the best judge of value,
that policies designed to benefit the rich made everyone better
off--brought us to the brink of disaster once before, and their
persistent hold on many threatens to do so again. Because these
ideas will never die unless there is an alternative, "Zombie
Economics" also looks ahead at what could replace market
liberalism, arguing that a simple return to traditional Keynesian
economics and the politics of the welfare state will not be
enough--either to kill dead ideas, or prevent future crises.
In a new chapter, Quiggin brings the book up to date with a
discussion of the re-emergence of pre-Keynesian ideas about
austerity and balanced budgets as a response to recession.
In the graveyard of economic ideology, dead ideas still stalk the
land. The recent financial crisis laid bare many of the assumptions
behind market liberalism - the theory that markets always know
best, regardless of the problem. For decades, its advocates had
dominated economics, helping to create an unthinking faith in
markets, in which speculative investments were seen as
fundamentally safe. The crisis seemed to kill off such ideas, but
they still live on in the minds of many - members of the public,
commentators, politicians, economists, and even those charged with
cleaning up the mess. In Zombie Economics, John Quiggin explains
how dead ideas still walk among us, in Australia and abroad - and
why we must find a way to kill them once and for all if we are to
avoid an even bigger crisis in the future. And because these ideas
will never die unless there is an alternative, Zombie Economics
also looks ahead at what could replace market liberalism, arguing
that a simple return to Keynesian economics and the politics of the
welfare state will not be enough - either to kill dead ideas, or to
prevent future crises. This local edition includes a new chapter on
the Australian scene. Praise for Zombie Economics 'A writer of
great verve who marshals some powerful evidence.' Financial Times
'I recommend it highly.' Ross Gittins, Sydney Morning Herald 'An
elegant critical introduction and analysis of some of the key ideas
of modern economic thought.' Satyajit Das 'Killing vampires and
werewolves is easy enough. But how does one slay economic zombies -
ideas that should have died long ago but still shamble forward?
Armed with nothing but the truth, John Quiggin sets about
dispatching these dead ideas once and for all in this engaging
book.' Brad Delong, University of California 'As Quiggin explains
with elegance, lucidity and deadpan humour, the undead ideas here
are interconnected- killing one causes it to knock over another in
a sort of zombie-dominoes effect.' Guardian 'A terrific book
...quite a page-turner.' Andrew Leigh MP, former Professor of
Economics, Australian National University
Economic analysis of choice under uncertainty has been dominated by
the expected utility (EU) model, yet the EU model has never been
without critics. Psychologists accumulated evidence that individual
choices under uncertainty were inconsistent with the predictions of
the EU model. Applied work in areas such as finance was dominated
by the simpler mean-variance analysis. In the 1980s this skepticism
was dispelled as a number of generalizations of EU were proposed,
most of which were capable of explaining evidence inconsistent with
EU, while preserving transitivity and dominance. Generalized
expected utility is now a flourishing subfield of economics, with
dozens of competing models and considerable literature exploring
their theoretical properties and comparing their empirical
performance. But the EU model remains the principal tool for the
analysis of choice under uncertainty. There is a view that
generalized models are too difficult to handle or incapable of
generating sharp results. This creates a need to show that the new
models can be used in the kinds of economic analysis for which EU
has been used, and that they can yield new and interesting results.
This book meets this need by describing one of the most popular
generalized models -- the rank-dependent expected utility model
(RDEU), also known as anticipated utility, EU with rank-dependent
preferences, the dual theory of choice under uncertainty, and
simply as rank-dependent utility. As the many names indicate, the
model has been approached in many ways by many scientists and for
this reason, consideration of a single model sheds light on many of
the concerns that have motivated the development of generalized
utility models. The popularity of the RDEU model rests on its
simplicity and tractability. The standard tools of analysis
developed for EU theory may be applied to the RDEU model, but since
RDEU admits behavior inconsistent with EU, the field of potential
applications is widened. As such, the RDEU model is not as much a
competitor to EU as an extension based on less restrictive
assumptions.
This book demonstrates that the state-contingent approach provides the best way to think about all problems in the economics of uncertainty, including problems of consumer choice, the theory of the firm, and principal agent relationships. The authors demonstrate that dual methods apply under uncertainty and that the dual representations can be developed for stochastic technologies. Moreover, proper exploitation of the properties of alternative primal and dual representations of preferences allows analysts to generalize and extend the results of the existing literature on preferences under uncertainty, thus making expected-utility theory largely superfluous for many decisions.
This book demonstrates that the state-contingent approach provides the best way to think about all problems in the economics of uncertainty, including problems of consumer choice, the theory of the firm, and principal agent relationships. The authors demonstrate that dual methods apply under uncertainty and that the dual representations can be developed for stochastic technologies. Moreover, proper exploitation of the properties of alternative primal and dual representations of preferences allows analysts to generalize and extend the results of the existing literature on preferences under uncertainty, thus making expected-utility theory largely superfluous for many decisions.
Economic analysis of choice under uncertainty has been dominated by
the expected utility (EU) model, yet the EU model has never been
without critics. Psychologists accumulated evidence that individual
choices under uncertainty were inconsistent with the predictions of
the EU model. Applied work in areas such as finance was dominated
by the simpler mean-variance analysis. In the 1980s this skepticism
was dispelled as a number of generalizations of EU were proposed,
most of which were capable of explaining evidence inconsistent with
EU, while preserving transitivity and dominance. Generalized
expected utility is now a flourishing subfield of economics, with
dozens of competing models and considerable literature exploring
their theoretical properties and comparing their empirical
performance. But the EU model remains the principal tool for the
analysis of choice under uncertainty. There is a view that
generalized models are too difficult to handle or incapable of
generating sharp results. This creates a need to show that the new
models can be used in the kinds of economic analysis for which EU
has been used, and that they can yield new and interesting results.
This book meets this need by describing one of the most popular
generalized models -- the rank-dependent expected utility model
(RDEU), also known as anticipated utility, EU with rank-dependent
preferences, the dual theory of choice under uncertainty, and
simply as rank-dependent utility. As the many names indicate, the
model has been approached in many ways by many scientists and for
this reason, consideration of a single model sheds light on many of
the concerns that have motivated the development of generalized
utility models. The popularity of the RDEU model rests on its
simplicity and tractability. The standard tools of analysis
developed for EU theory may be applied to the RDEU model, but since
RDEU admits behavior inconsistent with EU, the field of potential
applications is widened. As such, the RDEU model is not as much a
competitor to EU as an extension based on less restrictive
assumptions.
Taxation is perhaps the longest-running subject for debate in
Australian politics. In this book John Quiggin argues that a GST on
its own will not restore the credibility of the tax system.
The 1980s and '90s have been a period of unprecedented
microeconomic reform in Australia, in a bid to make the nation s
enterprise environment more competitive. With the full
implementation of the National Competition Policy, the pace of that
reform is set to explode. In this timely work, John Quiggin
critically examines the assumptions, the practice and the future of
microeconomic reform and its place in the Australian economy. Is it
unambiguously true that competition within the infrastructure
benefits business and consumers as well as the infrastructure
industry concerned? What are the assumptions upon which such great
expectations have been placed, and have they held true in the
experience of reform? Great Expectations places the prospect of
microeconomic reform in its theoretical and historical context. It
examines and evaluates: - transport deregulation - government
business enterprises - financial deregulation - contracting out -
tariffs and industry policy - privatisation - communications
deregulation - private infrastructure At a time when Australia s
economic basis and future conti
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