The aim of this book is to make more widely available a body of recent research activity that has become known as applied general equilibrium analysis. The central idea underlying this work is to convert the Walrasian general equilibrium structure (formalized in the 1950s by Kenneth Arrow, Gerard Debreu and others) from an abstract representation of an economy into realistic models of actual economies. Numerical, empirically based general equilibrium models can then be used to evaluate concrete policy options by specifying production and demand parameters and incorporating data reflective of...

This volume is intended to provide a survey of thought about exchange-rate determination as it emerged in the decade of the 1970s. This survey differs from many, however, in that the field itself is in a state of rapid change. Understanding the changes and the reasons for them is therefore essential if the reader is to have a basis for understanding future advances in knowledge and the further evolution of the system. The survey is also intended to reach non-specialist professional economists whose balance-of-payments theory was learned before the 1970s, as well as to provide graduate...

This is the first full-length survey of current work which examines the compatibility of microeconomics and macroeconomics. Its particular distinction is that it makes accessible, to non-specialists, those extensive modern refinements of general equilibrium theory which are linked to macroeconomics and monetary theory. Part I traces the development and interlocking nature of two scientific research prgrams, macroeconomics and neo-Walrasian analysis. The five chapters in this part examine general equilibrium theory, Keynes' contribution, the 'neoclassical synthesis', and the Clower...

The aim of this book is to make more widely available a body of recent research activity that has become known as applied general equilibrium analysis. The central idea underlying this work is to convert the Walrasian general equilibrium structure (formalized in the 1950s by Kenneth Arrow, Gerard Debreu and others) from an abstract representation of an economy into realistic models of actual economies. Numerical, empirically based general equilibrium models can then be used to evaluate concrete policy options by specifying production and demand parameters and incorporating data reflective of...

An important new research program has developed in economics that extends neoclassical economic theory in order to examine the effects of institutions on economic behavior. The body of work emerging from this new line of inquiry includes contributions from the various branches of economic theory, such as the economics of property rights, the theory of the firm, cliometrics and law and economics. This book is the first comprehensive survey of this research program, which the author terms "neoinstitutional economics." The author proposes a unified approach to this research, integrating the work...

This book examines the nature of economic explanation. The author introduces current thinking in the philosophy of science and reviews the literature on methodology. He looks at the status of welfare economics, and also provides a series of case studies of leading economic controversies, showing how they may be illuminated by paying attention to questions of methodology. A final chapter draws the strands together and gives the author's view of what is wrong with modern economics. This book is a revised and updated edition of a classic work on the methodology of economics.

This book describes and evaluates the literature on exchange rate economics. It provides a wide-ranging survey of the different theories that attempt to explain the behavior of exchange rates, and outlines the salient institutional characteristics of the modern foreign exchange market in the context of an evolving international monetary system. An important feature of the book is its emphasis throughout on the main policy issues relating to the stabilization of exchange rates. The level of exposition is relatively nontechnical, and will be intelligible to undergraduate students.

Economists have developed models in which individuals form expectations of key variables in a "rational" manner such that these expectations are consistent with actual economic environments. In this revised and expanded second edition, Professor Sheffrin first explores the logical foundation of the concept and the case for employing it in economic analysis. Subsequent chapters investigate its use in macroeconomics, financial markets, and microeconomics. A final chapter assesses its impact on theoretical and empirical work in economics and policy arenas. The author argues that while rational...

A survey of the new theories of inflation that have developed over the past two decades in response to the inflationary pressures experienced by Western countries examines the shifting debate from explaining inflation as a "causal" process to explaining its increase as a result of constantly changing expectations.

Economists have developed models in which individuals form expectations of key variables in a "rational" manner such that these expectations are consistent with actual economic environments. In this revised and expanded second edition, Professor Sheffrin first explores the logical foundation of the concept and the case for employing it in economic analysis. Subsequent chapters investigate its use in macroeconomics, financial markets, and microeconomics. A final chapter assesses its impact on theoretical and empirical work in economics and policy arenas. The author argues that while rational...