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The literature of economics is expanding rapidly, and many subjects have changed out of recognition within the space of a few years. Perceiving the state of knowledge in fast-developing subjects is difficult for students and time consuming for professional economists. This series of books is intended to help with this problem. Each book gives a clear structure to and balanced overview of the topic, and is written at a level intelligible to the senior undergraduate. They will therefore be useful for teaching but will also provide a mature yet compact presentation of the subject for economists wishing to update their knowledge outside their own specialties.

  • General Editors: John Pencavel, Stanford University, California

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15 results in Cambridge Surveys of Economic Literature

Economics of the Family
  • Martin Browning, Pierre-André Chiappori, Yoram Weiss
  • Published online:
    05 July 2014
    Print publication:
    05 June 2014
  • The family is a complex decision unit in which partners with potentially different objectives make consumption, work and fertility decisions. Couples marry and divorce partly based on their ability to coordinate these activities, which in turn depends on how well they are matched. This book provides a comprehensive, modern and self-contained account of the research in the growing area of family economics. The first half of the book develops several alternative models of family decision making. Particular attention is paid to the collective model and its testable implications. The second half discusses household formation and dissolution and who marries whom. Matching models with and without frictions are analyzed and the important role of within-family transfers is explained. The implications for marriage, divorce and fertility are discussed. The book is intended for graduate students in economics and for researchers in other fields interested in the economic approach to the family.

Productivity Convergence
  • Theory and Evidence
  • Edward N. Wolff
  • Published online:
    05 June 2014
    Print publication:
    16 December 2013
  • A vast new literature on the sources of economic growth has now accumulated. This book critically reviews the most significant works in this field and summarizes what is known today about the sources of economic growth. The first part discusses the most important theoretical models that have been used in modern growth theory as well as methodological issues in productivity measurement. The second part examines the long-term record on productivity among Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries, considers the sources of growth among them with particular attention to the role of education, investigates convergence at the industry level among them, and examines the productivity slowdown of the 1970s. The third part looks at the sources of growth among non-OECD countries. Each chapter emphasizes the factors that appear to be most important in explaining growth performance.

The Analytics of Uncertainty and Information
  • 2nd edition
  • Sushil Bikhchandani, Jack Hirshleifer, John G. Riley
  • Published online:
    05 August 2013
    Print publication:
    12 August 2013
  • There has been explosive progress in the economic theory of uncertainty and information in the past few decades. This subject is now taught not only in departments of economics but also in professional schools and programs oriented toward business, government and administration, and public policy. This book attempts to unify the subject matter in a simple, accessible manner. Part I of the book focuses on the economics of uncertainty; Part II examines the economics of information. This revised and updated second edition places a greater focus on game theory. New topics include posted-price markets, mechanism design, common-value auctions, and the one-shot deviation principle for repeated games.

Rational Expectations
  • 2nd edition
  • Steven M. Sheffrin
  • Published online:
    05 June 2012
    Print publication:
    13 June 1996
  • 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. 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 expectations are still central to macroeconomic policy debates, fully workable models have not yet been devised, and offers reasons for the lack of practical and conceptual progress. All chapters of the second edition have been revised or expanded. New sections inter alia include material on learning, the rationality of reported expectations, alternative recent developments explicitly or implicitly using rational expectations, new tests of the Lucas critique, and models of noise trading. The book is written in a non-technical fashion for beginning graduate students and non-specialists.

The Analytics of Uncertainty and Information
  • Jack Hirshleifer, John G. Riley
  • Published online:
    05 June 2012
    Print publication:
    10 September 1992
  • Economists have always recognised that human endeavours are constrained by our limited and uncertain knowledge, but only recently has an accepted theory of uncertainty and information evolved. This theory has turned out to have surprisingly practical applications: for example in analysing stock market returns, in evaluating accident prevention measures, and in assessing patent and copyright laws. This book presents these intellectual advances in readable form for the first time. It unifies many important but partial results into a satisfying single picture, making it clear how the economics of uncertainty and information generalises and extends standard economic analysis. Part One of the volume covers the economics of uncertainty: how each person adapts to a given fixed state of knowledge by making an optimal choice among the immediate 'terminal' actions available. These choices in turn determine the overall market equilibrium reflecting the social distribution of risk bearing. In Part Two, covering the economics of information, the state of knowledge is no longer held fixed. Instead, individuals can to a greater or lesser extent overcome their ignorance by 'informational' actions. The text also addresses at appropriate points many specific topics such as insurance, the Capital Asset Pricing model, auctions, deterrence of entry, and research and invention.

Microfoundations
  • The Compatibility of Microeconomics and Macroeconomics
  • E. Roy Weintraub
  • Published online:
    03 May 2011
    Print publication:
    28 February 1979
  • 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–Leijonhufvud contributions to questions of systemic coordination. The four chapters of Part II place recent work on the micro-foundations of macroeconomics within a taxonomic scheme of Walrasian equilibrium, Walrasian disequilibrium, Edgeworthian equilibrium, and Edgeworthian disequilibrium. Part III, a single chapter, provides an overview of the subject and ventures some conclusions.

Theories of Inflation
  • Helmut Frisch
  • Published online:
    05 May 2010
    Print publication:
    27 January 1984
  • 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.

Multinational Enterprise and Economic Analysis
  • 3rd edition
  • Richard E. Caves
  • Published online:
    18 December 2009
    Print publication:
    23 July 2007
  • The third edition of Multinational Enterprise and Economic Analysis surveys the contributions that economic analysis has made to our understanding of why multinational enterprises exist and what consequences they have for the workings of the national and international economies. It shows how economic analysis can explain multinationals' activity patterns and how economics can shed conceptual light on problems of business policies and managerial decisions arising in practice. It addresses the welfare problems arising from multinationals' activities and the logic of governments' preferences and choices in their dealings with multinationals. Suitable for researchers, graduates and upper-level undergraduates. The third edition of this highly accessible book incorporates the many additions to our knowledge of multinationals accumulated in research appearing in the past decade.

The Methodology of Economics
  • Or, How Economists Explain
  • 2nd edition
  • Mark Blaug
  • Published online:
    10 December 2009
    Print publication:
    31 July 1992
  • This book is an examination of the nature of economic explanation. The opening chapters introduce current thinking in the philosophy of science and review the literature on methodology. Professor Blaug then turns to the troublesome question of the logical status of welfare economics, giving the reader an understanding of the outstanding issues in the methodology of economics. This is followed by a series of case studies of leading economic controversies, which shows how controversies in economics 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, in which Professor Blaug develops his discussion of the latest developments in macroeconomics, general equilibrium theory and international trade theory. A new section on the rationality postulate is also added.

Economic Behavior and Institutions
  • Principles of Neoinstitutional Economics
  • Thrainn Eggertsson
  • Published online:
    03 December 2009
    Print publication:
    29 June 1990
  • An important research programme has developed in economics that extends neo-classical economic theory in order to examine the effects of institutions on economic behaviour. The body of work emerging from this line of inquiry includes contributions from 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 a comprehensive survey of this research programme which the author terms 'neoinstitutional economics'. The author proposes a unified approach to this research, integrating the work of various contributors and emphasising the common principles of inquiry that tie the work together. The theoretical discussion is accompanied by empirical studies dealing with a range of institutions and economic systems. This book will serve as the primary resource for economists and students who want to learn about this important branch of economic theory.

Natural Monopoly Regulation
  • Principles and Practice
  • Sanford V. Berg, John Tschirhart
  • Published online:
    06 November 2009
    Print publication:
    27 January 1989
  • Considered the cutting edge of microeconomic theory in the 1970s, natural monopoly research remains an active and fertile field. Policy makers and regulators have begun to implement entry and pricing policies that are based on theoretical and empirical analyses. This book develops a comprehensive framework for analyzing natural monopoly. The authors first present a historical overview of regulatory economics, followed by analyses of optimal pricing and investment for single- and multiproduct natural monopolies. Topics covered include cost and demand structures, efficiency impacts of linear and multipart pricing, peak-load pricing, capacity determination, and the sustainability of natural monopolies. After a survey and analysis of natural monopoly regulation in practice, the links between technological change and regulation are identified. The book concludes with a discussion of the alternatives to traditional regulation, including public ownership, franchise schemes, quality regulation, and new incentive systems. Throughout the book, issues from the telecommunications and energy industries are used to illustrate key points. Its integrated framework will make it useful to academic economists, regulatory analysts, business researchers, and advanced students of public utility economics.

Labor Supply
  • Mark R. Killingsworth
  • Published online:
    08 October 2009
    Print publication:
    28 October 1983
  • Labor Supply is a survey of and critical guide to recent theoretical and empirical work on labor supply models, both static and dynamic. The chapters on recent empirical studies and on dynamic models are of particular interest, because neither topic has so far been discussed in any detail in standard texts. Integrated within this survey is an extensive discussion of public policy issues relating to labor supply, including income transfer programs, such as welfare and Social Security, and the income tax system. A concluding chapter discusses secular trends in labor supply in the U.S. economy, in particular the long-run increase in female labor force participation.

Resource and Environmental Economics
  • Anthony C. Fisher
  • Published online:
    07 October 2009
    Print publication:
    30 November 1981
  • This book presents the major themes of the economic literature on natural resources and the environment. It is designed to bring the reader, in part with the aid of a unified model of optimal resource use, to the frontiers of the discipline, using only elementary mathematical models. Features special to exhaustible and renewable resources, including the problems posed by market imperfections, are treated as extensions of the basic model. The theoretical discussion is enriched with examples and applications, including a systematic investigation of the behaviour of resource reserves, costs, prices, and substitution possibilities. Substantial attention to environmental, as well as extractive, resources is a distinctive aspect of this book. The author describes methods of estimating the environmental costs of resource development and other projects, and presents some key empirical findings. Policy instruments to protect the environment, such as taxes, subsidies, marketable permits, and direct controls, are carefully analysed from a welfare-theoretic point of view.

The Economics of Individual and Population Aging
  • Robert L. Clark, Joseph J. Spengler
  • Published online:
    06 October 2009
    Print publication:
    30 April 1980
  • This study aims to identify and describe the principle economic issues associated with individual and population ageing. In addition, the study surveys and assess the existing knowledge - including research by scholars of many countries and different fields in the social sciences - of the economic and social problems associated with ageing. Although the study covers a wide range of issues, it focuses primarily on the economic complexities of individual ageing and the macro-economic problems that arise from age-structure changes in the population. The authors, giving examples from many countries, trace the development of concern for population ageing and examine theoretical concepts and changing demographic conditions. Cross-national econometric studies are cited along with time series and cross-sectional research on individual countries. In assessing the state of the literature on the economic problems of ageing, the authors have attempted to indicate fruitful avenues for further research.

Oligopoly Theory
  • James Friedman
  • Published online:
    17 September 2009
    Print publication:
    30 September 1983
  • James Friedman provides a thorough survey of oligopoly theory using numerical examples and careful verbal explanations to make the ideas clear and accessible. While the earlier ideas of Cournot, Hotelling, and Chamberlin are presented, the larger part of the book is devoted to the modern work on oligopoly that has resulted from the application of dynamic techniques and game theory to this area of economics. The book begins with static oligopoly theory. Cournot's model and its more recent elaborations are covered in the first substantive chapter. Then the Chamberlinian analysis of product differentiation, spatial competition, and characteristics space is set out. The subsequent chapters on modern work deal with reaction functions, advertising, oligopoly with capital, entry, and oligopoly using noncooperative game theory. A large bibliography is provided.