Peter A. Diamond discusses search equilibrium as a framework for integrating micro and macroeconomics.

Since the 1950s, macroeconomics has been transformed. This book is about one of the most important aspects of that transformation: the attempt, through the end of the twenty-first century and beyond, to construct macroeconomic models rigorously derived from models of individual firms and households.

This is an extract from the 4-volume dictionary of economics, a reference book which aims to define the subject of economics today. 1300 subject entries in the complete work cover the broad themes of economic theory. This volume concentrates on the topic of allocation information and markets.

ïThis excellent book documents the creation of what has become the first commandment of orthodox macroeconomics: that microeconomic theory provides its foundation because this is the most secure form of economic knowledge. By contrast, John King shows conclusively that microeconomics cannot play such a role when assessed by the criteria of logic, or of science, or of economics itself. Indeed, he goes further and demonstrates that the microfoundations dogma detracts from knowledge about how economies actually operate, and instead generates patently false conclusions. Moreover, the dogma is shown to have blinded orthodox economists from even seeing the possibility of typical macroeconomic crises, and has disarmed them in formulating policies that would eliminate actual crises. The book therefore deals with a topic at the very heart of the present debacle in the world economy.Í _ Michael Howard, University of Waterloo, Canada ïA generation ago Dudley Dillard wrote a famous article on the ñbarter illusion in classical and neoclassical economicsî. Now John King has gone a step further and written about the microfoundations delusion. The illusion has been with us for a very long time, the delusion is of more recent vintage. Together they have blocked a basic understanding of macroeconomic and monetary phenomena at a time when they are most urgently needed. This is a book that had to be written, and we are fortunate that it is John King who has written it. Essential reading for our times.Í _ John Smithin, York University, Canada In this challenging book, John King makes a sustained and comprehensive attack on the dogma that macroeconomic theory must have ïrigorous microfoundationsÍ. He draws on both the philosophy of science and the history of economic thought to demonstrate the dangers of foundational metaphors and the defects of micro-reduction as a methodological principle. Strong criticism of the microfoundations dogma is documented in great detail, from some mainstream and many heterodox economists and also from economic methodologists, social theorists and evolutionary biologists. The author argues for the relative autonomy of macroeconomics as a distinct ïspecial scienceÍ, cooperating with but most definitely not reducible to microeconomics. The Microfoundations Delusion will prove a stimulating and thought-provoking read for scholars, students and researchers in the fields of economics, heterodox economics and history of economic thought.

Using nothing more than undergraduate mathematical skills this book takes the reader from basic IS-LM style macro models to the state of the art literature on Dynamic Stochastic General Equilibrium. Dealing with all major topics it summarizes important approaches and provides a coherent angle on macroeconomic thought.

This book retraces the history of macroeconomics from Keynes's General Theory to the present. Central to it is the contrast between a Keynesian era and a Lucasian - or dynamic stochastic general equilibrium (DSGE) - era, each ruled by distinct methodological standards. In the Keynesian era, the book studies the following theories: Keynesian macroeconomics, monetarism, disequilibrium macroeconomics (Patinkin, Leijongufvud and Clower), non-Walrasian equilibrium models, and first-generation new Keynesian models. Three stages are identified in the DSGE era: new classical macroeconomics (Lucas), RBC modelling, and second-generation new Keynesian modeling. The book also examines a few selected works aimed at presenting alternatives to Lucasian macroeconomics. While not eschewing analytical content, Michel De Vroey focuses on substantive assessments, and the models studied are presented in a pedagogical and vivid yet critical way.

Dynamic Approaches to Macroeconomics provides the advanced student with key methodological tools for the dynamic analysis of a core selection of macroeconomic phenomena, including consumption and investment choices, employment and unemployment outcomes, and economic growth. The technical treatment of these tools will enable the student to handle current journal literature, while not assuming any particular familiarity with advanced analytical tools or mathematical notions. As these tools are introduced, they are related to particular applications to illustrate their use. Chapters are linked by various formal and substantive threads. Discrete-time optimization under uncertainty, introduced in Chapter 1, is motivated and discussed by applications to consumption theory, with particular attention to empirical implementation. Chapter 2 focuses on continuous-time optimization techniques, and discusses the relevant insights in the context of partial-equilibrium investment models. Chapter 3 revisits many of the previous chapters' formal derivations with applications to dynamic labour demand, in comparison to optimal investment models, and characterizes labor market equilibrium when not only individual firms' labor demand, but also individual labor supply by workers, is subject to adjustment costs. Chapter 4 proposes broader applications of methods introduced in the previous chapters and studies continuous-time equilibrium dynamics of representative agent economies, featuring both consumption and investment choices, with applications to long-run growth frameworks of analysis. Chapter 5 illustrates the role of decentralized trading in determining aggregate equilibria, and characterizes aggregate labor market dynamics in the presence of frictional unemployment. Chapters 4 and 5 pay particular attention to strategic interactions and externalities: even when each agent correctly solves his or her individual dynamic problem, modern microfounded macroeconomic models recognize that macroeconomic equilibrium need not have unambiguously desirable properties. By bridging the gap between undergraduate economics and modern microfounded macroeconomic research, this book will be of interest to graduate students in economics, and as a technical reference for economic researchers.

The traditional role of evolutionary theory in the social sciences has been to explain the existence of an object in terms of the survival of the fittest. In economics this approach has acted as a justification for hypotheses such as profit maximisation, or the existence of institutions in terms of their overall efficiency. This volume challenges that view and argues that one of the first tasks of economic theory should be to explain the enormous diversity of institutional arrangements that has characterised human societies.

Illegal online file sharing costs companies tens of billions of dollars of lost revenues around the world annually and results in lost productivity, various psychological issues, and significant reduction of incentives to create and innovate. Legislative, technical, and enforcement efforts have failed. This book presents psychological theories about why people illegally share files online; analyzes and characterizes optimal sanctions for illegal online file sharing; introduces new models for pricing of network-access and digital-content to help reduce illegal online file sharing; introduces new content control and P2P systems; and explains why game theory does not work in pricing of network access.

Since 1969, 75 people have been awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics. Recent Recognized "A History of Economic Thought - Contributions of the Nobel Laureates to Economic Science" describes their major accomplishments in a manner so all readers, regardless of their knowledge of economics, can appreciate the efforts of these scholars and their impact on the development and progress of economic science. Begin with a brief tour of economic thought and the factors that have influenced economic doctrine from the 16th through the 20th century. Then, for each Nobel Laureate, learn about their background and professional affiliations. Complete your understanding of each Laureate's accomplishments with a concise, relatively non-technical summary of their Nobel Prize Lecture.