"Microeconomics: Equilibrium and Efficiency" is an innovative textbook that introduces microeconomic theory in an applied way, making use of real-world empirical examples.
Key benefits:
- Concise and intuitive: students will not only become familiar with the building blocks of the subject, but also gain a broad understanding of microeconomic theory and models.
- Empirical, real-world examples: all economic concepts are developed in a measurable way. Performance measures are derived and applied to firms, industries, and national economies.
- Systemic approach: the economy is considered as a system, looking at how its different parts interact, how prices are formed and how markets are interconnected.
- Unique innovations: for example, general equilibrium theory is introduced making use of Negishi's method - that is, equilibrium analysis follows the techniques used in empirical models.
- Coverage of modern topics such as environmental economics, information and optimal search, and the theory of inequality measurement.
- End-of-chapter summaries and exercises, with answers in the appendix.
Thijs ten Raa's unique approach bridges the gap between microeconomic theory and applied economics, helping students understand applied models that are used widely in industry, economic planning, trade, and environmental studies. Written in a lucid, clear and direct style, it is an ideal textbook for advanced undergraduate and graduate students.

In this book the author analyzes measures of consumer well-being. The three main, neoclassical measures of well-being are the compensating variation, the equivalent variation, and consumer's surplus. The question is which of the measures of consumer well-being is the best. This book tackles the question, with a surprising outcome that is contrary to the main opinion in the literature. Prof ten Raa presents a test that measures must pass to track utility. The test will be used to sort measures in the remainder of the book. It will culminate in a variant of consumer's surplus, which he calls the consumer's index, and a generalization that applies to nonhomothetic demands. Variants of the consumer's index are presented, including ones that are applicable to demand functions with income effects, even nonlinear ones. So-called broad measures of consumer well-being, such as the Human Development Index, will be encompassed.

Efficiency is the most important objective in economics and this book shows how it can be analyzed using input and output data at all levels of the economy. After his 'Input-Output Economics: Theory and Applications', Thijs ten Raa has extended his research to efficiency analysis. He has contributed to the microeconomic theory of performance measurement, made applications to industries, national economies and international trade, and written on the history of economic thought. Twenty-five new papers, published in the last decade are now collected and interrelated by an introduction, amounting to a unification of theory and applications in efficiency and input-output analyses.Efficiency analysts measure firm performance relative to the best practice, which is determined by a firm (or collection of firms) operating on the frontier of the production possibilities. More precisely, efficiency is relative productivity, where the latter is essentially output per 'unit' of input. On the other hand, input-output analysts study input per 'unit' of output. The concept of the one is the inverse of the other and this insight will help resolve open issues in either branch of economic science. Environmental objectives are shown to be achievable by reallocations of production. Benchmarking theory is developed and used to measure how well (or poor) industries and economies are organized. Papers on the history of economic thought round out the volume.

This book aims to make the nature of input-output analysis in economics clearly accessible and, contrary to the opinion of many commentators, shows that this type of analysis can be compatible with the doctrines of neoclassical economics.

Thijs ten Raa, author of the acclaimed text The Economics of Input-Output Analysis, now takes the reader to the forefront of the field. This volume collects and unifies his and his co-authors' research papers on national accounting, input-output coefficients, economic theory, dynamic models, stochastic analysis, and performance analysis. The research is driven by the task to analyze national economies. The final part of the book scrutinizes the emerging Asian economies in the light of international competition.

This book aims to make the nature of input-output analysis in economics clearly accessible and, contrary to the opinion of many commentators, shows that this type of analysis can be compatible with the doctrines of neoclassical economics.

For businesses seeking to gain the edge over their competitors, benchmarking is an increasingly popular tool used to compare operations and performance. Ten Raa elegantly presents the techniques and theory to explain how performance indices and rankings are developed and how they can be used to improve efficiency, productivity and profitability.

This Handbook takes an econometric approach to the foundations of economic performance analysis. The focus is on the measurement of efficiency, productivity, growth and performance. These concepts are commonly measured residually and difficult to quantify in practice. In real-life applications, efficiency and productivity estimates are often quite sensitive to the models used in the performance assessment and the methodological approaches adopted by the analysis. The Palgrave Handbook of Performance Analysis discusses the two basic techniques of performance measurement - deterministic benchmarking and stochastic benchmarking - in detail, and addresses the statistical techniques that connect them. All chapters include applications and explore topics ranging from the output/input ratio to productivity indexes and national statistics.

Input-output analysis is the main tool of applied equilibrium analysis. This textbook provides a systematic survey of the most recent developments in input-output analysis and their applications, helping us to examine questions such as: which industries are competitive? What are the multiplier effects of an investment program? How do environmental restrictions impact on prices? Linear programming and national accounting are introduced and used to resolve issues such as the choice of technique, the comparative advantage of a national economy, its efficiency and dynamic performance. Technological and environmental spillovers are analysed, both at the national level (between industries) and the international level (the measurement of globalisation effects). The book is self-contained, but assumes some familiarity with calculus, matrix algebra, and the microeconomic principle of optimizing behaviour. Exercises and review questions are included at the end of each chapter, and solutions at the end of the book.

Input-output analysis is the main tool of applied equilibrium analysis. This textbook provides a systematic survey of the most recent developments in input-output analysis and their applications, helping us to examine questions such as: which industries are competitive? What are the multiplier effects of an investment program? How do environmental restrictions impact on prices? Linear programming and national accounting are introduced and used to resolve issues such as the choice of technique, the comparative advantage of a national economy, its efficiency and dynamic performance. Technological and environmental spillovers are analysed, both at the national level (between industries) and the international level (the measurement of globalisation effects). The book is self-contained, but assumes some familiarity with calculus, matrix algebra, and the microeconomic principle of optimizing behaviour. Exercises and review questions are included at the end of each chapter, and solutions at the end of the book.

This Handbook takes an econometric approach to the foundations of economic performance analysis. The focus is on the measurement of efficiency, productivity, growth and performance. These concepts are commonly measured residually and difficult to quantify in practice. In real-life applications, efficiency and productivity estimates are often quite sensitive to the models used in the performance assessment and the methodological approaches adopted by the analysis. The Palgrave Handbook of Performance Analysis discusses the two basic techniques of performance measurement - deterministic benchmarking and stochastic benchmarking - in detail, and addresses the statistical techniques that connect them. All chapters include applications and explore topics ranging from the output/input ratio to productivity indexes and national statistics.

Review: 'This is an ideal microeconomics textbook for students who have a solid grounding in micro at the intermediate level. It contains the first and only integrated treatment of general equilibrium and input-output analysis. - Marcus Berliant, Washington University in St. Louis, US 'Microeconomics: Equilibrium and Efficiency is written on the premise that students should be able to take microeconomic theory to the data. Professor ten Raa has succeeded in writing a lucid text that shows the wide applicability of standard theory and its normative implications for a more efficient organization of real world economies.' - Fred Schroyen, Norwegian School of Economics, Bergen, Norway 'This innovative text marries advanced neo-classical theories of general equilibrium with applied approaches to measurement of economic activity. It teaches students a valuable and solid foundation for applying economic insights to understand trade and economic policy in our global economy.' - Robert P. Gilles, Queen's University Management School, Belfast, UK 'Ten Raa's book markedly stands out among the usual micro textbooks. Coherent, well written, rigorous and sharp, with a clear focus, this book will give students an excellent sense for the nature and performance of the market economy.' - Joop Hartog, University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands