Economics as a Coordination Problem

Economics as a Coordination Problem PDF Author: Gerald P. O'Driscoll
Publisher: Kansas City, Kan. : Sheed Andrews and McMeel
ISBN:
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 210

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Book Description
A revision of the author's thesis, University of California at Los Angeles. Includes index. Bibliography: p. 158-167.

Economics as a Coordination Problem

Economics as a Coordination Problem PDF Author: Gerald P. O'Driscoll
Publisher: Kansas City, Kan. : Sheed Andrews and McMeel
ISBN:
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 210

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Book Description
A revision of the author's thesis, University of California at Los Angeles. Includes index. Bibliography: p. 158-167.

Problems of Coordination in Economic Activity

Problems of Coordination in Economic Activity PDF Author: James W. Friedman
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 940111398X
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 229

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Book Description
Coordination is extremely important in economic, political, and social life. The concept of economic equilibrium is based on the coordination of producers and consumers in buying and selling. This book reviews the topic of coordination from an economic, theoretical standpoint. The aim of this volume is twofold: first, the book contributes to the ongoing research on the economics of coordination; and second, it disseminates results and encourages interest in the topic. The volume contains original research on coordination including general game-theoretic questions, particular coordination issues within specific fields of economics (i.e. industrial organization, international trade, and macroeconomics), and experimental research.

Complex Economics

Complex Economics PDF Author: Alan Kirman
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1136941673
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 366

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Book Description
The economic crisis is also a crisis for economic theory. Most analyses of the evolution of the crisis invoke three themes, contagion, networks and trust, yet none of these play a major role in standard macroeconomic models. What is needed is a theory in which these aspects are central. The direct interaction between individuals, firms and banks does not simply produce imperfections in the functioning of the economy but is the very basis of the functioning of a modern economy. This book suggests a way of analysing the economy which takes this point of view. The economy should be considered as a complex adaptive system in which the agents constantly react to, influence and are influenced by, the other individuals in the economy. In such systems which are familiar from statistical physics and biology for example, the behaviour of the aggregate cannot be deduced from the behaviour of the average, or "representative" individual. Just as the organised activity of an ants’ nest cannot be understood from the behaviour of a "representative ant" so macroeconomic phenomena should not be assimilated to those associated with the "representative agent". This book provides examples where this can clearly be seen. The examples range from Schelling’s model of segregation, to contributions to public goods, the evolution of buyer seller relations in fish markets, to financial models based on the foraging behaviour of ants. The message of the book is that coordination rather than efficiency is the central problem in economics. How do the myriads of individual choices and decisions come to be coordinated? How does the economy or a market, "self organise" and how does this sometimes result in major upheavals, or to use the phrase from physics, "phase transitions"? The sort of system described in this book is not in equilibrium in the standard sense, it is constantly changing and moving from state to state and its very structure is always being modified. The economy is not a ship sailing on a well-defined trajectory which occasionally gets knocked off course. It is more like the slime described in the book "emergence", constantly reorganising itself so as to slide collectively in directions which are neither understood nor necessarily desired by its components.

Behavioural and Experimental Economics

Behavioural and Experimental Economics PDF Author: Steven Durlauf
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 0230280781
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 279

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Book Description
Specially selected from The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics 2nd edition, each article within this compendium covers the fundamental themes within the discipline and is written by a leading practitioner in the field. A handy reference tool.

Varieties of Capitalism

Varieties of Capitalism PDF Author: Peter A. Hall
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199247749
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 557

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Book Description
Applying the new economics of organisation and relational theories of the firm to the problem of understanding cross-national variation in the political economy, this volume elaborates a new understanding of the institutional differences that characterise the 'varieties of capitalism' worldwide.

Calculation and Coordination

Calculation and Coordination PDF Author: Peter J Boettke
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134557302
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 469

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Book Description
This collection of essays from one of the major Austrian economists working in the world today brings together in one place some of his key writings on a variety of economic issues.

Game Theory and the Law

Game Theory and the Law PDF Author: Douglas G. Baird
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 9780674341111
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 348

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Book Description
This book is the first to apply the tools of game theory and information economics to advance our understanding of how laws work. Organized around the major solution concepts of game theory, it shows how such well known games as the prisoner's dilemma, the battle of the sexes, beer-quiche, and the Rubinstein bargaining game can illuminate many different kinds of legal problems. Game Theory and the Law highlights the basic mechanisms at work and lays out a natural progression in the sophistication of the game concepts and legal problems considered.

Coping with Crisis

Coping with Crisis PDF Author: Nancy Bermeo
Publisher: Russell Sage Foundation
ISBN: 1610447921
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 431

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Book Description
The financial crisis that erupted on Wall Street in 2008 quickly cascaded throughout much of the advanced industrial world. Facing the specter of another Great Depression, policymakers across the globe responded in sharply different ways to avert an economic collapse. Why did the response to the crisis—and its impact on individual countries—vary so greatly among interdependent economies? How did political factors like public opinion and domestic interest groups shape policymaking in this moment of economic distress? Coping with Crisis offers a rigorous analysis of the choices societies made as a devastating global economic crisis unfolded. With an ambitiously broad range of inquiry, Coping with Crisis examines the interaction between international and domestic politics to shed new light on the inner workings of democratic politics. The volume opens with an engaging overview of the global crisis and the role played by international bodies like the G-20 and the WTO. In his survey of international initiatives in response to the recession, Eric Helleiner emphasizes the limits of multilateral crisis management, finding that domestic pressures were more important in reorienting fiscal policy. He also argues that unilateral decisions by national governments to hold large dollar reserves played the key role in preventing a dollar crisis, which would have considerably worsened the downturn. David R. Cameron discusses the fiscal responses of the European Union and its member states. He suggests that a profound coordination problem involving fiscal and economic policy impeded the E.U.'s ability to respond in a timely and effective manner. The volume also features several case studies and country comparisons. Nolan McCarty assesses the performance of the American political system during the crisis. He argues that the downturn did little to dampen elite polarization in the U.S.; divisions within the Democratic Party—as well as the influence of the financial sector—narrowed the range of policy options available to fight the crisis. Ben W. Ansell examines how fluctuations in housing prices in 30 developed countries affected the policy preferences of both citizens and political parties. His evidence shows that as housing prices increased, homeowners expressed preferences for both lower taxes and a smaller safety net. As more citizens supplement their day-to-day income with assets like stocks and housing, Ansell's research reveals a potentially significant trend in the formation of public opinion. Five years on, the prospects for a prolonged slump in economic activity remain high, and the policy choices going forward are contentious. But the policy changes made between 2007 and 2010 will likely constrain any new initiatives in the future. Coping with Crisis offers unmatched analysis of the decisions made in the developed world during this critical period. It is an essential read for scholars of comparative politics and anyone interested in a comprehensive account of the new international politics of austerity.

F. A. Hayek

F. A. Hayek PDF Author: Peter J. Boettke
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 1137411600
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 342

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Book Description
This book explores the life and work of Austrian-British economist, political economist, and social philosopher, Friedrich Hayek. Set within a context of the recent financial crisis, alongside the renewed interest in Hayek and the Hayek-Keynes debate, the book introduces the main themes of Hayek’s thought. These include the division of knowledge, the importance of rules, the problems with planning and economic management, and the role of constitutional constraints in enabling the emergence of unplanned order in the market by limiting the perverse incentives and distortions in information often associated with political discretion. Key to understanding Hayek's development as a thinker is his emphasis on the knowledge problem that economic decision makers face and how alternative institutional arrangements either hinder or assist them in overcoming that epistemic dilemma. Hayek saw order emerging from individual action and responsibility under the appropriate institutional order that itself emerges from actors discovering new and better ways to coordinate their behavior. This book will be of interest to all those keen to gain a deeper understanding of this great 20th century thinker in economics.

Coordination Games

Coordination Games PDF Author: Russell Cooper
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521578967
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 184

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Book Description
This volume studies the implications of macroeconomic complementarities for aggregate behaviour. Topics include: economies with production complementarities; search models; imperfectly competitive product markets; and the role of government in resolving and creating coordination problems.