Economics and Human Welfare

Economics and Human Welfare PDF

Author: Michael J. Boskin

Publisher: Academic Press

Published: 2014-05-10

Total Pages: 417

ISBN-13: 148326100X

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Economic Theory, Econometrics, and Mathematical Economics: Economics and Human Welfare: Essays in Honor of Tibor Scitovsky focuses on the principles, influence, and contributions of Tibor Scitovsky on economics. The selection first elaborates on welfare economics and microeconomic theory, property rights doctrine and demand revelation under incomplete information, and experiments in the pricing of theater tickets. Discussions focus on the effect on audience composition, volume, and revenues, failure of bargaining under privacy, growing disenchantment with economic growth, and bargaining as a game of incomplete information. The text then takes a look at economics and the transformation of the idea of progress and changes in the size distribution of income. The text ponders on welfare criteria, distribution, and cost- benefit analysis; position of ethics in the theory of production; and rationing and price as methods of restricting demand for specific products. Topics include excise taxation with revenue distributed like rations; private and social returns to morality; effect of changes in the cost of organization and communication; and logical and historical foundation of the theory of the welfare state. The selection is highly recommended for economists and researchers interested in pursuing studies on the relationship of economics and human welfare.

Political Order and Inequality

Political Order and Inequality PDF

Author: Carles Boix

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2015-02-23

Total Pages: 335

ISBN-13: 1107089433

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The fundamental question of political theory, one that precedes all other questions about the nature of political life, is why there is a state at all. This book describes the foundations of stateless societies, why and how states emerge, and the basis of political obligation.

Quiet Revolution in Welfare Economics

Quiet Revolution in Welfare Economics PDF

Author: Michael Albert

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Published: 2017-03-14

Total Pages: 455

ISBN-13: 1400887054

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This ambitious work presents a critique of traditional welfare theory and proposes a new approach to it. Radical economists Robin Hahnel and Michael Albert argue that an improved theory of social welfare can consolidate and extend recent advances in microeconomic theory, and generate exciting new results as well. The authors show that once the traditional "welfare paradigm" is appropriately modified, a revitalized welfare theory can clarify the relationship between individual and social rationalitya task that continues to be of interest to mainstream and nonmainstream economists alike. Hahnel and Albert show how recent work in the theory of the labor process, externalities, public goods, and endogenous preferences can advance research in welfare theory. In a series of important theorems, the authors extend the concept of Pareto optimality to dynamic contexts with changing preferences and thus highlight the importance of institutional bias. This discussion provides the basis for further analysis of the properties and consequences of private and public enterprise and of markets and central planning. Not surprisingly, Hahnel and Albert reach a number of conclusions at odds with conventional wisdom. Originally published in 1990. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

Happiness and Economics

Happiness and Economics PDF

Author: Bruno S. Frey

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Published: 2010-11-16

Total Pages: 233

ISBN-13: 1400829267

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Curiously, economists, whose discipline has much to do with human well-being, have shied away from factoring the study of happiness into their work. Happiness, they might say, is an ''unscientific'' concept. This is the first book to establish empirically the link between happiness and economics--and between happiness and democracy. Two respected economists, Bruno S. Frey and Alois Stutzer, integrate insights and findings from psychology, where attempts to measure quality of life are well-documented, as well as from sociology and political science. They demonstrate how micro- and macro-economic conditions in the form of income, unemployment, and inflation affect happiness. The research is centered on Switzerland, whose varying degrees of direct democracy from one canton to another, all within a single economy, allow for political effects to be isolated from economic effects. Not surprisingly, the authors confirm that unemployment and inflation nurture unhappiness. Their most striking revelation, however, is that the more developed the democratic institutions and the degree of local autonomy, the more satisfied people are with their lives. While such factors as rising income increase personal happiness only minimally, institutions that facilitate more individual involvement in politics (such as referendums) have a substantial effect. For countries such as the United States, where disillusionment with politics seems to be on the rise, such findings are especially significant. By applying econometrics to a real-world issue of general concern and yielding surprising results, Happiness and Economics promises to spark healthy debate over a wide range of the social sciences.

The Rate and Direction of Inventive Activity

The Rate and Direction of Inventive Activity PDF

Author: National Bureau of Economic Research

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Published: 2015-12-08

Total Pages: 647

ISBN-13: 1400879760

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The papers here range from description and analysis of how our political economy allocates its inventive effort, to studies of the decision making process in specific industrial laboratories. Originally published in 1962. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

To Advance Human Welfare!

To Advance Human Welfare! PDF

Author: Robert Leonard

Publisher:

Published: 1989

Total Pages: 23

ISBN-13:

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"Between approximately 1950 and 1968, the Ford Foundation committed itself to funding research in economics at universities and other institutions both in the United States and abroad. The Foundation designed a specific program for this purpose: Economic Development and Administration (EDA). Intending to encourage the economics discipline to solve practical problems related to economic policy, EDA over this period gave support amounting to roughly $95 million. The first section of this paper traces the development of EDA in the context of the broader aims of the Foundation. The interaction between the Foundation and the "economics community" is examined, highlighting the various interests of each group and the way in which these were reconciled when in conflict. The ultimate demise of the program is related to the changing political and social environment of the late 1960's and a largely negative assessment, by the Ford Foundation, of the ability of economics to solve emerging social problems. The paper's second section provides some reflections on the relationship between the economics profession and foundations in a more general sense, concluding that extensive support of economics, of the magnitude afforded in the above period, is unlikely to be repeated."