This thesis is a theoretical study of the optimal dynamic policies of a, to some extent, slowly adjusting firm that faces an exogeneously given technological progress and an exogeneously given business cycle. It belongs to the area of mathematical economics. It is intended to appeal to mathematical economists in the first place, economists in the second place and mathematicians in the third place. It entails an attempt to stretch the limits of the application of deterministic dynamic optimisation to economics, in particular to firm behaviour. A well-known. Dutch economist (and trained...

In this book we open our insights in the Theory of the Firm, obtained through the application of Optimal Control Theory, to a public of scholars and advanced students in economics and applied mathematics. We walk on the micro economic side of the street that is bordered by Theory of the Firm on one side and by Optimal Control Theory on the other, keeping the reader away from all the dead end roads we turned down during our 10 years lasting research. We focus attention on the expressiveness and variety of insights that are obtained through studying only simple models of the firm. In this book...