Critical Ideas in Economics series – serie

This major volume presents a collection of the most important published articles in the field, including influential papers by key economists on competition, monopoly and regulation.Competition follows the development of the idea, as an analytical tool and also as a policy ideal, from Adam Smith through the marginal revolution to the modern concept of perfect competition. The editor's original introductory essay shows how the scope of competition has narrowed in modern times. It also emphasizes the distinctions between competition as an end state and competition as a process.This volume will be of interest to economists, policy makers and business persons who are concerned with competition and related subjects.

The concept of equilibrium is of enormous significance in economics and is central to economic analysis. Volume I provides historical perspectives on the origins, development and criticisms of the idea of economic equilibrium and explains the meaning of modern equilibrium theory and the methods and techniques that are used. Volume II presents the classic literature on perfectly competitive equilibrium and the important models that explore equilibrium in imperfectly competitive markets. Volume III reveals the variety of recent developments and applications of the equilibrium concept, including stationary, temporary, underemployment, growth, rational expectations, Bayesian, and cooperative and non-cooperative game theoretic equilibrium.This important and comprehensive reference collection is essential reading for all microeconomic and macroeconomic theorists and students.

Economic Welfare presents an important collection of leading writings in the fields of policy evaluation. The volume focuses on the conceptual issues behind welfare economics, drawing upon contributions from economics, moral philosophy and social philosophy. The selected readings are designed to present the case both for and against extant approaches to economic welfare.Modern welfare economics comprises three contrasting approaches. Pure Paretianism focuses on cases where everyone is made better off or worse off. This approach commands broad (although not universal) assent but does not apply to most real world choices. Cost-benefit analysis does most of the practical work for economic policy evaluation, but does not offer fully sound foundations. Newer approaches treat economic welfare as either cardinal or measurable in nature, often dropping the traditional strictures against interpersonal utility comparisons. This collection brings together these three approaches, examines their strengths and weaknesses and asks whether they share a common future.Economic Welfare will provide an indispensable reference source for students, academics and practitioners.