Product Description
"This is a book that should be read by all economists." -- Roger E. Backhouse, The Economic Journal

"A stimulating essay by one of the world's most thoughtful and innovative economists." -- Paul Ormerod, The Times Higher Education Supplement

Why do certain ideas gain currency in economics while others fall by the wayside? Paul Krugman argues that the unwillingness of mainstream economists to think about what they could not formalize led them to ignore ideas that turn out, in retrospect, to have been very good ones.

Krugman examines the course of economic geography and development theory to shed light on the nature of economic inquiry. He traces how development theory lost its initial influence after it became clear that many of the theory's main insights could not be clearly modeled, and concludes with a commentary on areas where further inquiry looks most promising.

The Ohlin Lectures ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

Not sure what to think about this, yet
I got this about a year ago (before his Nobel was awarded) and didn't get around to reading it until recently. I should have really enjoyed it, since it covers several topics I enjoy (history, economics, development of cities). However, there was something about ... I don't know, maybe the tone. Krugman comes off as arrogant or smug or something through the first 2/3 of the book; I couldn't decide if he was being directly critical of people he actually admired, if he was sarcastically praising his opponents with back-handed compliments before dismissing them, or damning them with faint praise. Maybe it's the fact that he seems very, very deeply buried in academia and uses language that assumes that the audience spends most of their days developing and critiquing formal economic models.

I don't know if I got used to it, or simply started to catch on to (or perhaps remember?) the jargon, or Krugman began to warm to the topic, or what, but I think I actually turned a corner in the last 1/3 and began enjoying it. It could also be that the book is not about Development and Geography, but about the life and death of theories in modern academia. That is a subject area that would seem to have a very narrow audience indeed.

As far as the maths, I guess I would have liked to see a commitment to either deliver a serious lecture and support it with equations and charts and get them right, or to leave that stuff out entirely. There is a chart and some discussion of it in the first section, but the lecture makes such vague references to it that it is not clear whether the chart is wrong or if he was annotating it with notes during the live lecture that did not make it into the book. Similarly, the appendix contains a few equations, but since not all terms are defined, it seems to be nearly useless. Is that really e, the base of the natural logarithm? How in the world did that get into the equation? Maybe arbitrary introduction of variables is just some archaic practice among economists that makes engineers wince? But now I'm being overly critical of a book that is not intended to be a battering ram of an argument, but rather just a romp through the death and life of theories.

Krugman's "The Self-Organizing Economy", only more technical
Summarizing this book as '"The Self-Organizing Economy", only a bit more technical, filled with more citations to other economists, more navel-gazey, slightly more philosophical and with less of a focus on complex systems' gets you at least 95% of what you need when deciding whether to read this book. As the next step after "The Self-Organizing Economy", it leaves something to be desired: it overlaps too much to be really satisfying. In fact I think Krugman cut and pasted a lot from "Development, Geography, and Economic Theory" into "The Self-Organizing Economy", including particular graphs and particular lines (e.g., one about his love of "Micromotives and Macrobehavior", and Gertrude Stein's quote about L.A. that "there's no there there"). Which is fine: these are good ideas, and they deserve to be explored in some depth.

In "The Self-Organizing Economy", Krugman explained why he thought that economic geography had died out sometime in the 1960's. Partly, he said, it was that the discipline lacked "microfoundations": it didn't explain high-level behaviors (in this case the existence of cities) from the unguided actions of individual economic actors. Instead it took the existence of cities as given, then derived conclusions about where people and businesses would locate. "The Self-Organizing Economy" painted some cute little models to try to build these microfoundations. Widely dispersed populations turned out in that book to be an unstable equilibrium: we get the microfoundations by assuming a "state of nature" in which everyone is spread out, then show that the state doesn't last. Krugman actually comes to a stronger conclusion from his toy model: cities end up being evenly spaced around the circular landscape. Any closer together and they start eating into each other's markets. Any further apart and they lose the benefits of closeness to customers and suppliers. This unifies a number of traditions in economics that have tried, over the years, to explain why cities exist in the shapes and sizes they do.

"Development" assumes more economic knowledge than did "The Self-Organized Economy", though I could fumble along and get most of what he was saying. Understanding why cities concentrate at all, says Krugman, inevitably means understanding increasing returns to scale. My intuition is ill-formed here at the moment, but I think the idea is that with constant returns to scale, doubling the number of employees in a given factory only doubles your output -- so there's no reason to prefer one large factory to two small ones at two different locations.

Hence understanding cities at all means understanding increasing returns to scale. But, says Krugman, increasing returns to scale is precisely what neoclassical economics doesn't know how to handle.My intuition here is even hazier. Krugman refers a few times to "unexploited economies of scale" causing problems for neoclassical economists, which suggests to me that there's some kind of arbitrage principle at work: in a perfectly competitive economy, the theory probably says somehow that factories would eventually scale up to the point that they're working in a constant-returns regime. Again, my intuition on this is hazy, but that's what the context of Krugman's writing suggests.

So if you're going to model city development, you need to model increasing returns. And if you're going to model increasing returns, you can't be talking about a perfectly competitive market. Apparently you're forced into a monopolistic competition model. These are just the sort of models that economics has always had a hard time understanding, says Krugman.

Krugman spends a good fraction of the book explaining this economic issue, so in a lot of ways "Development" turns into meta-economics: a study of why economics as a discipline behaves the way it does. Economics, says Krugman, ignored city development for so long because it didn't know how to model it; a certain standard of rigor has prevailed in economics since the 1960's, such that anyone who had nice ideas in prose but couldn't express them in mathematics was the proud owner of a dead letter.

So "Development, Geography and Economic Theory" is three things: a collection of toy models, a unification and deepening of some earlier work in economic geography, and a meditation on the value of those very models.

Do economic models matter?
Paul Krugman is one of the few economists at home both in `high theory' and in public economic discourse. He thinks deeply, and he thinks brilliant thoughts. This little book - based on the Olin Lectures he gave in Stockholm - is proof of what his mind can yield, when it sets out to clarify issues.

Development and economic geography, he argues, failed because they did not submit themselves to the discipline of model-building - what might look or even be at first sight downright silly in the end is preferable to the unconscious metaphors of the narrative economic discourse.

For all its clarity, Krugman's argument is deeply flawed. Development and economic geography - together with income distribution - belong to the derelict class of economic problems that addresses the question of historical disparities of wealth in the economic tissue. Why have some countries or regions developed and others have staid behind, why are there poor and rich? Was it done by better use of the available resources, or by impoverishment of other nations or persons? A corollary to this question would be: does our quest for efficiency worsen or reduce disparities? Both Adam Smith and Karl Marx addressed this question, but their observations have been largely forgotten. Pareto and welfare economics picked up the thread, only to conclude platidinuously that the only `good' policies are those that benefit all.

Should the model-building solutions that Krugman suggests be used in development and geography be any good, they might imply that a `big push' applies not just to economic growth, but also to concentration of income - consumer surplus playing the role of `economies of scale'. Interesting. Just as interesting as the metaphor that - as in the `big bang' theory of star formation - the smallest of initial income irregularities (e.g. first predatory capital accumulation) lead to the agglutination of wealth around capitalists. Which, of course, also implies that it is the 90% of dark (workers) matter that keeps the shiny capitalist `stars' in place in a well-ordered and expanding economy.

Toys are useful provided they teach a child the `real thing'. Toy models are not useful when they fail to recognise (let alone address) fundamental issues like that of economic disparity. Models are downright bad when their incautious use leads to blind-sighting in economic policy. Every economist should be made to ponder Kenneth Arrow's Theory of Second Best. Partial optima are bad solutions in the search for an overall optimum.
Can we expect models of income disparity soon? Paul Krugman might devote some of his intellectual powers to construct the simplest of models of income disparity and attempt to integrate it into a growth model - just to disprove (or prove) the widespread intuition that when governments pursue efficiency single-mindedly, the rich get rich and the poor poorer.

Can we further expect a `grand unified theory of everything economic' that would bring together both concerns of efficiency and income distribution into a unified model for development? Don't hold your breath. As Koopmans famously proved, one cannot kill two birds with one stone. Until then, however, efficiency models should either be denied the Warrant Of Fitness for circulation in political circles, and/or carry the label: Efficiency may be harmful to income distribution.

Neat little book but too expensive!
It's a wonderful little piece, but a teeny little book for $40 bucks?!What's more, most of contents are/were actualy available at Krugman's own web site.Someone's sure making a lot of unearned money here off..... If money were no object, though, I'd surely rate this book much higher.

An Excellent critique of high development theory
This is an excellent critique of high development theory. Although good economists will know the main faults of their disapline, this text elegantly explains why development theory lost its direction. I will not divulge the main ideas, they are well worth the money to find out. -Economists consist of two groups, those that don't know, and those whodon't know that they don't know. ... Read more

Product Description
Graduate-level textbook covering the consequences for the character and efficiency of the interaction between individuals and organizations when one party is better-informed than the other in a business relationship. Also includes introductory material and a model in which both parties have the same information throughout the relationship. Softcover. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

good book that suffers in translation
I've been assigned this book (as well as Bolton and Dewatripont's Contract Theory text) for a grad-level information class. In a way I'm of two minds -- this book is for the most part a clear, well-motivated introduction to the subject, a useful accompaniment to B&P's rather dryer book. On the other hand it's an obvious translation, full of typographical errors and amusing Spanglish. I don't know, for instance, what the monotonous likelihood quotient property is, but it certainly sounds bad.

All chapter exercises have answers in the back and there are just enough of them. For autodidacts (in whose company I count myself) this is immeasurably useful, an example I wish more textbooks would follow. Without the guidance of a teacher it's *hard* to pick your way through end-of-chapter problems in most books, when there are usually far too many of them and there's no way to get help when you're stuck.

Economics of Information
Few books are concerned with this subject. Inés Macho-Stadler and David Pérez-Castrillo were able to explain in a intuitive and structural way the problems derived from asymmetric information. This book guides you along the way to understand clearly the features of this themes.

Information to the reader: this book is good
In less than three hundred pages, the authors are able to introduce Moral Hazard, Adverse Selection and Signalling in an outstanding accessible way. Given the importance of contract theory in modern Economics, undoubtedely this is the first book to be read.

Each chapter is full of examples and graphs that help to understand the mathematics underneath.

The reader is supposed to know Kuhn-Tucker theorem, so any advanced undergraduate student in economics should be able to read it.

The base model, presented in chapter 2, is used as a benchmark to compare wirh the results obtained from the Moral Hazard model (brilliantly presented in chapter 3), Adverse Selection (chapter 4) and Signalling (chapter 5).

Each chapter has very well posed exercises, whose answers are in the end of the book. Furthermore, advanced themes are also discussed in the end of each chapter, giving to the reader a complete overview about theory of information.

So, since this theme has been increasingly important in modern economics, and given that this book is very easily readable, I strongly recommend it to any person who wishes to understand theory of contracts and incetives. ... Read more

Product Description
Offering the most cutting-edge coverage available, the 10th edition of the market-leading MICROECONOMIC THEORY: BASIC PRINCIPLES AND EXTENSIONS delivers a text that is rigorous yet accessible, accurate in theory yet practical in application, thorough yet concise. Now at a more succinct 19 chapters, this tried-and-true, widely popular text is known as the "bible of microeconomics," offering the most clear and accurate presentation of advanced microeconomic concepts. For the new edition, proven author and economic authority Walter Nicholson is joined by new co-author Chris Snyder, a professor of economics at Dartmouth College. These highly respected economists draw from their wealth of experience in the classroom and the marketplace, giving the book a practical, real-world perspective. Taking a calculus-based approach, MICROECONOMIC THEORY provides an ideal level of mathematical rigor for upper level undergraduate students and beginning graduate students. Extremely reader-friendly, the book is designed to help students truly understand and apply economic models as it enables them to work directly with theoretical tools, real-world applications, and the latest developments in the study of microeconomics. Insightful graphic presentations help visual learners see the connections between the calculus and the algebra/geometry of the same material. In addition, end-of-chapter problems are now presented in two tiers: Simple numerical/mathematical exercises, which build student intuition, are followed by more analytical, theoretical, and complex problems. Unlike other, more theoretical texts, MICROECONOMIC THEORY presents theory in an accessible way as well as illustrates how it applies in the real world. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (24)

Great book for "Not beginners"
I am at grad school so that was mandatory to get this book, I must say that if you are looking for a lot of examples and solved problems, this is not the book you are looking for. Overall this is good book who is familiar with basic principles of microeconomics. There is one numerical example only, after each section and might not be enough for beginners.

The BEST Micro at Intermediate level
I have been searching for quite a long time and have purchased (and subsequently returned - sorry Amazon!) almost all the intermediate level text books on Microeconomics - that can be a good bridge for more advanced graduate level microeconomics texts like MWG/Varian/Jehle. With this book my search has now ended. This is THE BEST intermediate level microeconomics text (which uses calculs)and I would very strongly recommend it for anyone who want to learn Microeocnomics (irrespective of the fact that s/he would be taking advanced texts subsequently). It is highly suitable for self study, for undergraduate level and can be used as background text even for first year Masters/graduate level microeconomics.

I am listing all the books I have used/perused/referred (with short comments)to come to the conclusion that this indeed is the best book, to help prospecitve buyers making an informed decison.

1. Varian's Intermediate Microeconomics(No calculus based treatment, so graduating to advanced texts after this could be a real pain, Otherwise an excellent modern text - its wide popularity is not without reason)
2. Binger & Hoffman's Microeconomics with Calculus (Obviously uses calculus based approach, and at a slightly higher level than this book, but the overall approach may appear to be slightly dated. Nevertheless, a good book and I would give it the second place after this book, if you need a calculus based Micor text)
3. Gravelle & Rees's Micoreconomics (The biggest letdown is that answers to problems are not provided at the end of the book, plus, no solution manual is available, therefore not much useful for self study and evaluation. Otherwise an OK, well typesetted book)
4. Perloff'sMicroeconomics: Theory and Application with Calculus (Again uses Calculus, but the approach is complex, things are not explained clearly and on many occasion, it is difficult to follow the logic and flow of the text)
5. Silberberg's Structure of Economics: A Mathematical Analysis (This text is actually not at intermediate level and should be compared with MWG/Varian, which I am not doing here)

The wide popularity and the fact that the book is now in its 10th edition is ample proof of its inherent quality.

In sum, if you are really looking for an intermediate level Microeocnomics text, which uses Calculus, do not think twice - go and grab it right away! If the price appears to be too high (It,indeed, is), go for ninth or eighth edition.

advance undergraduate textbook
There are different types of microeconomics texts in market. "Baby" Varian, Pindyck, Katz and Perloff are all popular intermediate level books. Mas Colell, Jehle and Kreps are pretty upper level texts.I can say that this book takes place between these two levels. Well, when one reads wordy economics books I am sure that the readergets uncomfortable since everything is explained with some graphs and primitive math. Reader starts to ask why there are no mathematical expressions and calculations. I mean using derivatives in appropriate place could be very beneficial for reader to understand the content. On the other hand, users of this text or any mathematical economics textbook could suffer from lack of intuition and graphical illustration. For example, proof of average productivity at maximum equals to marginal productivity could be well demonstrated with some graphs without annoying the reader. In short, it is almost impossible to find the "complete" microeconomics book in the market.Nevertheless, not every author can see 10th edition of his manuscript so I appreciate the success of Nicholson.

Specifically, one should not expect deep and wordy explanation of topics. Also, one should not expect upper level of math such as matrices, gradient, KKT etc. in this book. There are no many graphical explanations and math usage is a little bit higher than traditional intermediate book. Therefore, it would be better for beginners to understand intuition of microeconomics and then start to read Nicholson.

I have read book up to the chapter 15 and among these game theory and profit maxizimization are written very well . However, in my opinion, the topic of monopoly should be revised. It lacks important details such as contestable markets, Lerner index etc.

Finally, for those who want to learn microeconomics with intermediate math level but find this book a little bit difficult, I strongly suggest this one; Microeconomic Theory: Concepts and Connections (with Economic Applications)(MIT and Harvard use this text in their intermediate micro courses).

Good transaction
I loved to buy this book because it arrived on time and the price was excellent.

One of my favorite books
I am so happy that i bought this book.
I am a graduate student but I have a week background on micro.
I am also an international student so I was in need of an easier book.
This book works very good for me.
Its language is a little more hard than the varian intermediate book but this one has a lot more math in it.
So it is a very nice book between graduate and undergraduate levels. (close to undergraduate)
And for the price (less than 10 dollars) everyone should have one. ... Read more

Product Description

To make the best decisions, you need the best information. However, because most issues in game theory are grey, nearly all recent research has been carried out using a simplified method that considers grey systems as white ones. This often results in a forecasting function that is far from satisfactory when applied to many real situations. Grey Game Theory and Its Applications in Economic Decision Making introduces classic game theory into the realm of grey system theory with limited knowledge. The book resolves three theoretical issues:

• A game equilibrium of grey game
• A reasonable explanation for the equilibrium of a grey matrix of static nonmatrix game issues based on incomplete information
• The Centipede Game paradox, which has puzzled theory circles for a long time and greatly enriched and developed the core methods of subgame Nash perfect equilibrium analysis as a result

The book establishes a grey matrix game model based on pure and mixed strategies. The author proposes the concepts of grey saddle points, grey mixed strategy solutions, and their corresponding structures and also puts forward the models and methods of risk measurement and evaluation of optimal grey strategies. He raises and solves the problems of grey matrix games. The book includes definitions of the test rules of information distortion experienced during calculation, the design of tokens based on new interval grey numbers, and new arithmetic laws to manipulate grey numbers. These features combine to provide a practical and efficient tool for forecasting real-life economic problems.

Product Description
This Second Edition arms real estate professionals with a comprehensive approach to the economic factors that both define and affect modern urban areas. The text considers the economics of cities as a whole, instead of separating them. Emphasis is placed on economic theory and empirical studies that are based in economic theory. The book also explores the policy lessons that can be drawn from the use of economics to understand urban areas. Real estate professionals will find new coverage of urban areas around the world to provide a global perspective. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Economics text book
The book came as described, but took so long that I had to find a replacement due to the extensive shipment time. Overall good transaction. ... Read more

Product Description
Gain a practical knowledge of today's health care systems with HEALTH ECONOMICS, the textbook thathelps you understand the costs and benefits associated with various health care choices. Your purchase includes two time-saving resources: access to InfoTrac College Edition's online university library and online study tools through Economic Applications! With Economic Applications, you'll have online access to study guides and review materials that will help you succeed in the course. And with InfoTrac College Edition, you'll save time, save money--and eliminate the trek to the library. Log in and access a library of more than 5,000 academic and popular magazines, newspapers, and journals. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Excellent book, well written, very informative
Required reading for my Economics of Healthcare class, but the book was entirely fascinating and interesting. Made me look at insurance and healthcare differently.

Useful, especially with the upcoming elections. Very insightful on economics of the healthcare system in several countries. ... Read more

Product Description
Renowned researchers Paul Krugman and MauriceObstfeld set the standard for international economics courses with thetext that remains the market leader in the U.S. and around the world. International Economics: Theory and Policyis a proven approach in which each half of the book leads with anintuitive introduction to theory and follows with self-containedchapters to cover key policy applications. The Eighth Edition integratesthe latest research, data, and policy in hot topics such asoutsourcing, economic geography, trade and environment, financialderivatives, the sub prime crisis, and China’s exchange rate policies.

Introduction. International Trade Theory: WorldTrade: An Overview; Labor Productivity and Comparative Advantage: TheRicardian Model; Resources, Comparative Advantage, and IncomeDistribution; The Standard Trade Model; Economies of Scale, ImperfectCompetition, and International Trade; International Factor Movements. International Trade Policy: TheInstruments of Trade Policy; The Political Economy of Trade Policy;Trade Policy in Developing Countries; Controversies in Trade Policy. Exchange Rates and Open-Economy Macroeconomics: NationalIncome Accounting and the Balance of Payments; Exchange Rates and theForeign Exchange Market: An Asset Approach; Money, Interest Rates, andExchange Rates; Price Levels and the Exchange Rate in the Long Run;Output and the Exchange Rate in the Short Run; Fixed Exchange Rates andForeign Exchange Intervention. International Macroeconomic Policy: TheInternational Monetary System, 1870–1973; Macroeconomic Policy andCoordination Under Floating Exchange Rates; Optimum Currency Areas andthe European Experience; The Global Capital Market: Performance andPolicy Problems; Developing Countries: Growth, Crisis, and Reform.Mathematical Postscripts.

For all readers interested in international trade and finance. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

Liberal Economic Policy
I took this class in college because my degree is international studies and I enjoy reading about foreign economic policy and learning about the Ricardian model but once I learned that Liberal Paul Krugman and some other liberal professor were authors of this book I thought hmmm...will this book be biases. I wasn't that impressed and then on top of that it was taught by a PhD student from middle eastern Europe who had a thick accent and was difficult to understand.

First lesson in International Economics
Your first lesson in International Economics is to get the international version of this book. It will be softcover, also the 8th edition, and half the price. It will be the same, page for page.

Then take the person of your choice out for a nice dinner. You'll be glad you did.

Good writing, clear principles
Very good cover of fundamentals of international trade and associated monetary issues - currency variations, risks, etc.Good description of mechanisms in human behavour terms in clear English with more technical maths separated into appendices at end of chapters.
The MyEconLab testing is good too as it focuses reader on practical issues that need to be understood to get on top of the material.

Pretty good
Parts of it are quite well written and explained such as money supply and its effects on rates. A good read for anyone interested in FX.

Does the job.
I had this text for an International Finance course focused mostly on Exchange Rates and Macro Policy Decisions.I thought the authors did a fairly thorough job explaining theory and policy.A fair amount of examples, too.Very light on the math, so if you're looking for something more advanced you might want to look at Obstfeld's other book. Also, I used the web site tools associated with the text.Found that to be okay, with the major flaw that the solutions were not fully explained or referenced to the text.It's a good read, and I think most will find it useful. ... Read more

Product Description
This text offers a systematic, rigorous, and unified presentation of evolutionary game theory, covering the core developments of the theory from its inception in biology in the 1970s through recent advances. Evolutionary game theory, which studies the behavior of large populations of strategically interacting agents, is used by economists to make predictions in settings where traditional assumptions about agents' rationality and knowledge may not be justified. Recently, computer scientists, transportation scientists, engineers, and control theorists have also turned to evolutionary game theory, seeking tools for modeling dynamics in multiagent systems. Population Games and Evolutionary Dynamics provides a point of entry into the field for researchers and students in all of these disciplines.

The text first considers population games, which provide a simple, powerful model for studying strategic interactions among large numbers of anonymous agents. It then studies the dynamics of behavior in these games. By introducing a general model of myopic strategy revision by individual agents, the text provides foundations for two distinct approaches to aggregate behavior dynamics: the deterministic approach, based on differential equations, and the stochastic approach, based on Markov processes. Key results on local stability, global convergence, stochastic stability, and nonconvergence are developed in detail. Ten substantial appendixes present the mathematical tools needed to work in evolutionary game theory, offering a practical introduction to the methods of dynamic modeling. Accompanying the text are nearly 200 color illustrations of the mathematics and theoretical results; many were created using the Dynamo software suite, which is freely available on the author's Web site. Readers are encouraged to use Dynamo to run quick numerical experiments and to create publishable figures for their own research. ... Read more

Product Description
Providing a comprehensive introduction to modern auction theory and its important new applications, this book is written by a leading economic theorist whose suggestions guided the creation of the new spectrum auction designs. Aimed at graduate students and professionals in economics, the volume provides the most up-to-date analysis of traditional theories of "optimal auctions" as well as newer theories of multi-unit auctions and package auctions, and shows by example how these theories are used.It explores the limitations of prominent older designs, such as the Vickrey auction design, and evaluates the practical responses to those limitations. Paul Milgrom is the Leonard and Shirley Ely Professor of Humanities and Sciences and Professor of Economics, Stanford University. He is the author of more than sixty articles and co-author of the influential textbook, Economics, Organization and Management (Prentice Hall, 1992). Professor Milgrom is a pioneer in the economic theory of auctions and co-designer of the simultaneous, multiple round auction that the FCC adopted for selling radio spectrum licenses. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Two sides in the book
I have read a few parts of the book however I see a pattern. Several chapters are descriptive and narrative with useful thoughts and idea. Simple and easy to read and follow. The majority of the chapters heavy dense math material. To benefit from it you need a solid math background and have had exposure to auctions. At least a good understanding of the basics auctions as those found in chapters of Game Theory textbooks. If this is your first book in Auction, it is not definetely a great option. Otherwise a great resource.

Great book! Must Read if you are in the auction space.
This is a great book about auction theory. I read it among many others as I was doing researches for our upcoming online auction site. It is clearly a bible for the auction professional as well as a very practical tool to understandexisting and diverse mechanisms. ... Read more

Product Description
Fernando Vega-Redondo's self-contained account of the main contributions of modern game theory and its applications to economics starts with a detailed description of how to model strategic situations.The discussion proceeds by studying basic solution concepts and their main refinements; games played under incomplete information; and repeated games. For each of these theoretical developments, the text includes a companion set of applications that cover the most representative instances of game-theoretic analysis in economics (e.g., oligopolistic competition, public goods, coordination failures, bargaining, insurance markets, implementation theory, signaling and auctions). ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

My favorite game theory book
I am a PhD student at Cornell studying game theory, and this is by far my favorite non-cooperative game theory book. It's written at a similar level as Fudenberg and Tirole's book but with better examples, explanations, and organization. These strengths make it a very good book to learn advanced game theory. Additionally, it covers popular recent topics such as evolutionary game theory and networks in more detail than in other advanced books (F&T, Osborne & Rubinstein, Myerson, etc.).

With that said, it is not an easy book, requiring strong math skills, etc. If you are looking for a simple introduction, check out the books by Gibbon or Gintis. ... Read more

Product Description
Emphasizes the application of game theoretical tools to understand important economic phenomena. Covers applications in the fields of labor economics, international trade, environmental economics, industrial organizations and more. Paper. DLC: Game theory. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

ERRORS ARE RAMPANT!!
While the content is pretty good the number of errors in this would result in an "F" if a high school student had submitted this work.There are parts that are unusable because of the rampant errors that fundamentally change outcomes of problems and understanding of concepts.

Anyone that bought this book should either receive full refund or at least a free copy of the update.I would STRONGLY urge instructors not to use this book or students not to buy it until some MAJOR revisions (and proofreads) are made.

Great ideas, poor execution
I like this book and would happily use it for advanced undergrad courses due to the number of practical economic examples.However, there are so many mathematical errors that it is just too frustrating for both students and professors.

Excellent
Excellent!Great examples and easy to understand.Should be used in all introduction to game theory courses.

This is a wonderful book
I found this book to be very useful when teaching advanced level economic students. It was well written, witty, and overall... excellent.

A good introduction in game theory
I use this book as a part of advanced ug micro component at one of the UK universities. The book uses a clear concept-building approach with examples. I give B/F four stars since the fifth star is yet to be earned insubsequent editions. Why? There are simply far too many mistakes left inthis edition. Which cannot be tolerated when game theory is the subject ofdiscussion. Just try to work through examples involving perfect Bayesianequilibria. Your solution just won't match the one provided in the text.And it turns out it is not you who is stupid. The game tree has a wrongpayoff at one of the terminal nodes. :))) ... Read more

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Among the concepts used to assess the sustainability of fiscal policy in a changing demographic environment, generational accounting has become the most prominent. This book gives a complete and up-to-date introduction to the theory and practice of the method. It reveals deficiencies of the original residual concept and discusses various measures of intergenerational redistribution based on the recent sustainability approach to generational accounting. An application using data on German public finances serves to provide an in-depth explanation and practical illustration of the technique. The study develops new procedures to evaluate the fiscal externalities of migration and the redistribution of net wealth among living generations resulting from Social Security reform. The book is an indispensable source of reference for analysts employing generational accounting and for those wishing to study intertemporal redistribution through fiscal policy.
... Read more

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Authors Santerre and Neun take a fresh contemporary approach to health economics.The writing style is lively and inviting to students that are intimidated by the term "economics."The authors use several real-world applications to make the economic theory more approachable to students.The central theme of Health Economics, 3e relates to the costs and benefits associated with various health care choices.Using this theme, the book covers the many changes that have taken place in the field of health care in both the public and private sectors. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Perfect Brand New Text Book with No Lines
This book is used in the CEBS course for health care economics.I was skeptical about ordering from an online source.The book was exactly the right book and arrived in perfect condition even sealed in the factory wrapper.The delivery was very quick.This is an outstanding way to get textbooks - no standing in line - book comes to the mailbox.All you have to do is start studying! ... Read more

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In How Economics Became a Mathematical Science E. Roy Weintraub traces the history of economics through the prism of the history of mathematics in the twentieth century. As mathematics has evolved, so has the image of mathematics, explains Weintraub, such as ideas about the standards for accepting proof, the meaning of rigor, and the nature of the mathematical enterprise itself. He also shows how economics itself has been shaped by economists' changing images of mathematics.

Whereas others have viewed economics as autonomous, Weintraub presents a different picture, one in which changes in mathematics—both within the body of knowledge that constitutes mathematics and in how it is thought of as a discipline and as a type of knowledge—have been intertwined with the evolution of economic thought. Weintraub begins his account with Cambridge University, the intellectual birthplace of modern economics, and examines specifically Alfred Marshall and the Mathematical Tripos examinations—tests in mathematics that were required of all who wished to study economics at Cambridge. He proceeds to interrogate the idea of a rigorous mathematical economics through the connections between particular mathematical economists and mathematicians in each of the decades of the first half of the twentieth century, and thus describes how the mathematical issues of formalism and axiomatization have shaped economics. Finally, How Economics Became a Mathematical Science reconstructs the career of the economist Sidney Weintraub, whose relationship to mathematics is viewed through his relationships with his mathematician brother, Hal, and his mathematician-economist son, the book's author.

This work will interest economists, mathematicians, philosophers, and historians of science, sociologists of science, and science studies scholars. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

A Masterful Intertwining of Personal and Professional Narratives
Dr. Weintraub possesses an understanding of the progression of economic thought--and the sciences in general for that matter--that is incredibly sophisticated and, simultaneously, surprisingly accessible. Weintraub illustrates the importance of CONTEXT--each chapter masterfully contextualizes the concepts of mathematics and economics in living history as they were perceived by the protagonists, reminding us that meanings and objectives change, get tangled with each other, cause myriad misunderstandings and misinterpretations, but also inspire the creation of novel methods. It becomes clear that overly linear and logically atomized constructions of the sciences lead to spurious problems and unanswerable questions (wait until you meet Debreau).

Marshall's nineteenth-century mathematics is practically inseparable from its numerous physical applications, and he gradually becomes out of touch with the field as the Hilbertian axiomatization program takes form and math becomes its OWN (ideally) pristine entity. A stubborn mathematics professor from the University of Florida tries desperately to reject the Arrow-Debreau paper because he badly misinterprets certain economic assumptions. Weintraub's subjects are woven effortlessly throughout and through each episode. We ultimately arrive at Weintraub's personal narrative and watch as the massive moves in economics hit home and affect the professional lives of his father, uncle, and years later, the author himself--creating another stimulating and rich narrative layer for the reader to consider.

A basic history usually provides two dimensions, a linear progression of A begetting B begetting C. A better history considers complex, multi-directional factors that zip around in three dimensions colliding, reinforcing, negating, colluding. Weintraub's account, alas, gives us the rare privilege of four dimensions.

Provocative, unique, sophisticated, and accessible, I recommend this work to anybody remotely curious about the history of economic thought.

Reader comment
I do not know who Michael Brady is, nor what his difficulties are. His comments on this book however are bizarre. Not one element of his "note" is connected to anything I wrote in this book, which is a history, not a presentation of Keynes. He seems to have a personal interpretation of Keynes, sort of like a personal relationship with God, and it seems to lead him to think anyone else cares, or is presenting counter-interpretations. This is wild stuff. Read the book for yourself, or any of the more than a dozen published reviews in several languages, or the award citations from the History of Economics Society or The Society for the History of Economics (each of which presented this book with its best book award), to check my veracity.

Economics is not a (mathematical) science
The fundamental problem with E Roy Weintraub's book is his a priori belief,reflected in the title,that economics is already a mathematical science.Economics is currently in the same class as administration,accounting,management,finance,marketing,communications,law or urban/regional studies.It is a field,study ,discipline or profession.It is not a science or an art, except in the hands of someone like John Maynard Keynes,Joseph A Schumpeter or Paul Samuelson.The recognition of this fact explains why Alfred Nobel forbade the awarding of any Nobel prize to any economist.It explains why Leon Walras's attempts to be awarded either the Nobel Prize in Literature or Peace were unanimously rejected.The reader of this review should also realize that the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Science is not a Nobel Prize.The only winner of this prize who could also be legitimately awarded a Nobel Prize is Paul Samuelson.It is a simple matter to demonstrate that economics is not presently a mathematical science,unless Weintraub's study refers to the fact that economists spend all their time trying to reinterpret, and apply in an ad hoc fashionto economics ,the original mathematical analysis of physicists,chemists,biologists and engineers.Consider the case of the differential calculus analysis presented by Keynes in the General Theory(GT).Keynes's analysis of his D-Z model is presented on pp.55-56,ft.2,pp.280-286,pp.304-306,and on pp.271-278,although this latter analysis would require that the reader of the GT already be familiar with A C Pigou's model as contained in Part II of The Theory of Unemployment(1933)in chapters 8-10.Keynes's analysis of his Y-multiplier model is contained on pp.114-117,126,and p.209 of the GT.Any reader of this review who has taken and presumably passed a lower division course in the first semester of calculus and analytic geometry can obtain Keynes's original models simply by integrating (taking the anti derivative of)Keynes's differential analysis as listedon the pages mentioned above.This has not been done by a single economist since the publication of the GT in 1936.Instead,there has been a 68 year period of"What did Keynes mean?"articles and books.Both E Roy Weintraub and his father,Sydney Weintraub,have contributed to some of the thousands of books,articles, book reviews and contributions to books that never answer the question .The question is never answered because the economists appear to have forgotten how to integrate Keynes's derivatives.For example,it is obvious that Keynes's expected aggregate supply function,Z,can't possibly be equal to pO,as claimed by ,for instance,E Roy Weintraub and Paul Davidson,where p equals an actual price and O equals real output.Simple integration of Keynes's derivatives on either pp.55-56,ft.2 or pp.283-285 reveals that Z must be equal to P+wN,where P is equal to expected economic profit,w is a constant short run money wage,and N is total employment.A simple reading of chapter 20 reveals that Keynes's expected aggregate demand function is D=pO,WHERE p IS AN EXPECTED PRICE,not an actual price.Keynes's D=Z locusmakes perfect sense.Unfortunately,this simple result has not been obtained by economists,because economics is not a mathematical science.One can,of course, hope that economics may evolve sufficiently in the future so as to move in the direction of becoming a mathematical science.

Essential to understanding HET
E. Roy Weintraub investigates the relationship between the development of mathematics and economics. He argues that by ignoring that mathematics too is a changing field, historians of economic thought have missed important distinctions. In clarifying the strange relationship between Marshall and mathematical methods in economics he shows how this distinctions give new, important insights.He traces the story of the mathematician Griffith C. Evans and his attempt to do mathematical economics like physics with quantifyable data (influenced by Volterra). In his next chapter he looks at Hilberts influence in mathematics, which is distinct from his impact on metamathematics. Having set the stage for abstract formalisms, he investigates how Gerard Debreu has brought the views of Nicolas Bourbaki, a important abstractionist movement, into economics.
The following two chapters aim to clarify the differences between mathematical and economic culture. As an illustration, he gives a account of a unfruitful correspondence between Don Patinkin and the eccentric mathematician, Cecil Phipps, who also was influencial in the puplication of the famous existence proof of Arrow and Debreu.
After this, Weintraub get's personal and tells the story of his economist father and mathematician uncle and how economics become a topic for well trained mathematicians. Weintraub also tells his own story of a economist turned mathematician as a example of a large inflow of mathematicians into economics.
The last chapter is dedicated to methodological issues. ... Read more

Product Description
Presenting state-of-the-art theoretical positions on important development issues such as the inner city, technological innovation and rebuilding economic infrastructure are explored in this volume. The contributors to this volume, drawn from various social science backgrounds, explore a variety of theories and examine them in relation to the practical actions of local economic development. ... Read more

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This book serves not only as an introduction, but also as an advanced text and reference source in the field of deterministic optimal control systems governed by ordinary differential equations. It also includes an introduction to the classical calculus of variations.

An important feature of the book is the inclusion of a large number of examples, in which the theory is applied to a wide variety of economics problems. The presentation of simple models helps illuminate pertinent qualitative and analytic points, useful when confronted with a more complex reality. These models cover: economic growth in both open and closed economies, exploitation of (non-) renewable resources, pollution control, behaviour of firms, and differential games. A great emphasis on precision pervades the book, setting it apart from the bulk of literature in this area. The rigorous techniques presented should help the reader avoid errors which often recur in the application of control theory within economics.

... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Still the best guide ever to Optimal Control for Economists
There are a number of standard textbooks in optimal control theory for economists. This is the textbook for the guys that wrote the other textbooks. Both the Calculus of Variations and Optimal Control Theory is presented in a rigorous manner. The authors are however not wedded to rigour as they often present "rough" arguments when they suspect that presenting the results rigourously would exceed the proficiency one could reasonably expect from their economist readers.

When the book was written it was not only a textbook but also an important piece of research. The reprint, appearing 10 years later, still presents the ideas with remarkable freshness. The discussion of transversality conditions in infinite horizon models should be read by all economists using these models and corrects some other textbooks where the topic has been bungled. The discussion of jump controls is superb. ... Read more

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By retaining a strong focus on policy and real-world issues, Environmental Economics and Management: Theory, Policy and Applications, provides an applied, practical approach to environmental economic theory accessible to students with minimal or more advanced economic exposure.The text has a modular structure, which not only organizes the presentation, but also provides a format that allows instructors flexibility and preference in designing material for the course.The presentation does not compromise economic theoretical concepts, but it does complement economic theory with timely, real-world applications. This text is intended to give undergraduate and MBA students a clear perspective of the relationship between market activity and the environment.The text integrates the business perspective in the development of environmental decision-making - a vantage point often overlooked in more conventional treatments. The general approach uses economic analytical tools such as market models, benefit-cost analysis, and risk analysis to assess environmental problems and to evaluate policy solutions. ... Read more

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Very Good
This was a very good experience. I needed the book for class and it was great because it was shipped so quickly. The book is in great condition with just some minor highlighting as the seller said. ... Read more

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Sethi and Thompson have provided management science and economics communities with a thoroughly revised edition of their classic text on Optimal Control Theory. Central to the book is its extraordinarily wide range of optimal control theory applications. Chapter 5 covers finance; Chapter 6 considers production and inventory problems; Chapter 7 covers marketing problems; Chapter 9 treats machine maintenance and replacement; Chapter 10 deals with problems of optimal consumption of natural resources (renewable or exhaustible); and Chapter 11 discusses a number of applications of control theory to economics. The book has been successfully used as a professional reference tool and as a graduate course book. Its usefulness lies in its emphasis on building applied models of realistic problems faced in a variety of business management situations.

The new edition has been completely refined with careful attention to the text and graphic material presentation. In Chapter 3, models have been added that use mixed (control and state) constraints, current value formulations, and terminal conditions. Chapter 4 now covers more advanced material on pure state constraints as they relate to mixed constraints. Each of these chapters contains new results that were not available when the first edition was published.

Another important change is the expansion of the material on stochastic optimal control theory, which has become the new Chapter 13. This new chapter provides a brief introduction to stochastic optimal control problems, and it contains formulations of simple stochastic models in production, marketing and finance, and their solutions.

Optimal control methods are used to determine optimal ways to control a dynamic system. The theoretical work in this field serves as a foundation for the book, which the authors have applied to business management problems developed from their research and classroom instruction.

Customer Reviews (2)

Technical Paper Rollup
Book is essentially a compendium of technical papers on specific economics topics subject to the application of Control Theory.The book includes a robust set of useful state equations and associated optimality problem statements, but I would have appreciated a more general discussion of the application of control theory to management science that ties all of the book's subjects together into a single, cohesive framework. The book focuses almost exclusively on the trees rather than the forest.As such, it is best suited as a supplement for graduate-level studies.

An extremely good textbook
This is a very good textbook for subjects on optimal controls with management science applications. I have adopted this as a textbook and students love it. Illustrative figures and diagrams are sufficiently provided, and materials are carefully explained.
The use of the commonly available Excel program to solve TPBVPs at the end of Chapter 2 is suitable for the ever increasing demand of "multimedia teaching". I have not seen any other optimal control textbook include such a set of Excel instructions in such a simple and elegant way.
Moreover, the authors made a set of chapter-by-chapter power point files available on the web to supplement the text book for classroom teaching.
I am giving 5 stars to this book anytime. ... Read more

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Lionel Robbins's now famous lectures on the history of economic thought comprise one of the greatest accounts since World War II of the evolution of economic ideas. This volume represents the first time those lectures have been published.

Lord Robbins (1898-1984) was a remarkably accomplished thinker, writer, and public figure. He made important contributions to economic theory, methodology, and policy analysis, directed the economic section of Winston Churchill's War Cabinet, and served as chairman of the Financial Times. As a historian of economic ideas, he ranks with Joseph Schumpeter and Jacob Viner as one of the foremost scholars of the century. These lectures, delivered at the London School of Economics between 1979 and 1981 and tape-recorded by Robbins's grandson, display his mastery of the intellectual history of economics, his infectious enthusiasm for the subject, and his eloquence and incisive wit. They cover a broad chronological range, beginning with Plato, Aristotle, and Aquinas, focusing extensively on Adam Smith, Thomas Malthus and the classicals, and finishing with a discussion of moderns and marginalists from Marx to Alfred Marshall. Robbins takes a varied and inclusive approach to intellectual history. As he says in his first lecture: "I shall go my own sweet way--sometimes talk about doctrine, sometimes talk about persons, sometimes talk about periods." The lectures are united by Robbins's conviction that it is impossible to understand adequately contemporary institutions and social sciences without understanding the ideas behind their development.

Authoritative yet accessible, combining the immediacy of the spoken word with Robbins's exceptional talent for clear, well-organized exposition, this volume will be welcomed by anyone interested in the intellectual origins of the modern world. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Transcription of Robbins lectures lack some depth
The book is the transcription of the lectures Lionel Robbins gave in the London School of Economics during 1979 on the History of Economic Thought. The material covered goes from Plato to Fisher (very few developments from the 20th century are included). Since the book is verbatim transcripts of the lectures, there is not much depth here. Therefore, a conventional book by Robbins on the subject would have been preferred (that he knew the subject, there can be no questions of). Also, the coverage varies: there is ample stuff on Smith and the early mercantilists, but the material on Marx and Walras, for example, is frustratingly short. Still, for those starting in the subject, this is an OK read.

A quick walk through the history of Economics.
This series of lectures sheds light on the major contributors to Economic thought since Plato and Aristotle. Since the book is made up of transcripts of his lectures, he doesn't manage to cover the figures or the ideas in depth. However he does manage to give some guidelines as to what you should read if you want to be well informed on the history of Economic thought.

I did not find the language in it frustrating, it just made the book seem like a personal lecture with Robbins (minus the questions) which added to my enjoyment. He stops at Fisher, so if you were hoping for ideas and icons after that, you will be disappointed.

The book is split into five sections. The first deals with those philosophers that preceded the formal study of economics; Plato, Aristotle, Aquinas etc... Very interesting stuff, especially if you aren't familiar with the relationship between the ancients and economics.

The second to the fourth sections deal with famous economists, from Adam Smith to Karl Marx. His treatment of Marx is brief so don't expect anything more than a few pages. While he goes into some length about Adam Smith and the other classical economists.

Finally he lectures on Jevons, Menger and others of the "Marginal Revolution", ending his series of lectures with Fisher.

A good read, I would recommend it to undergraduates in Economics or any one else who is interested in the history of economic ideas.

Lectures
This is a collection of lectures given at the LSE.So DON'T think it is a history.Nevertheless, it is a comprehensive journey from aristotle's economica thru the modern era.Good as a reference.Not bad as a read -- but be aware you are reading a transcribed lecture and adjust your expectations accordingly.

Outstanding summary of economic thought!
A well-organized and well-considered series of concise lectures are codified in this book.This is a substantial, but not overwhelming, chronology of the more influential contributors to economic history and thought.

Magisterial, fair, but not the best way
Make no mistake: Robbins knows his stuff, he's fair, correct, and surprisingly open-minded.However, this is a transcription of lectures, and the syntax is contorted.He interrupts the flow of every other sentence to insert some qualifier or oral footnote, and the effect can be maddening.This is too much to read for the depth of treatment you will actually get.If you do read it, you will get a pretty swell reading list, but the material is definitely weighted in favor of antiquarian literature and ancient disputes. I personally found it a pleasant read, because I like old books and economics, and I felt a certain affection for the grand old man, but unless you share these tastes, you're bound to be frustrated ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Good intro book on Economics of Crime...Cartels and Hookers!!
The last reviewer pretty much nailed it...If you like graphs, formulas, hookers, cartels, heroin trade, and murder ..Then you will LOVE this book....Some of the econ stuff is pretty simplistic...It even tells you what a SUPPLY curve looks like in the beginning..I give it one extra star for the prostitution GRAPHS...W00t!!!

very good for an introduction on the theme
Economics of Crime by Hellman and Alper is a very good title if you want to start studying the subject of the economic approach of crime. It is very comprehensive (it discusses several kinds of crimes, like theft, murder,prostitution, drugs, etc.), but it has its limitations, since it is made,in the words of the authors, for an "audience with limited backgroundin economics". If you have a good knowledge of economic theory, you'llprobably find this book too simple. However, if you don't have anyknowledge of economics whatsoever, this book may be too difficult for you. ... Read more