Product Description
This new edition of the leading text on business and government focuses on the insights economic reasoning can provide in analyzing regulatory and antitrust issues. Departing from the traditional emphasis on institutions, Economics of Regulation and Antitrust asks how economic theory and empirical analyses can illuminate the character of market operation and the role for government action and brings new developments in theory and empirical methodology to bear on these questions.

The fourth edition has been substantially revised and updated throughout, with new material added and extended discussion of many topics. Part I, on antitrust, has been given a major revision to reflect advances in economic theory and recent antitrust cases, including the case against Microsoft and the Supreme Court's Kodak decision. Part II, on economic regulation, updates its treatment of the restructuring and deregulation of the telecommunications and electric power industries, and includes an analysis of what went wrong in the California energy market in 2000 and 2001. Part III, on social regulation, now includes increased discussion of risk-risk analysis and extensive changes to its discussion of environmental regulation. The many case studies included provide students not only pertinent insights for today but also the economic tools to analyze the implications of regulations and antitrust policies in the future.

The book is suitable for use in a wide range of courses in business, law, and public policy, for undergraduates as well at the graduate level. The structure of the book allows instructors to combine the chapters in various ways according to their needs. Presentation of more advanced material is self-contained. Each chapter concludes with questions and problems. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (8)

Good
Book got here fast. In a little worst condition than I expected. Still great service..

Horrible service
The item did not arrive.Also the mode of shipment was deceptive.It was shipped via FedEx but then transferred to the USPS.Obviously, using two different types of shipping facilities will increase inefficiency and loss of purchase.If Amazon had been explicit about how the book would have been shipped, then I would not have purchased the item.Very disappointing.Barnes and Noble will be the optional choice to meet my needs.

Serviceable
In my opinion, this book emphasized history and historical cases too much.While I believe empirical data are important for evaluating economic theory, I thought this book went overboard.Also, I found it annoying that many relevant facts to example problems (e.g., marginal costs) were not conveniently displayed near the graph, but rather, hidden somewhere within the text describing the example.Similarly, it would sometimes present important conclusions in the form of block quotes from authoritative figures, which can be useful for some purposes, but is usually just annoying.All in all, I wouldn't say this book is horrible, but I think there are probably better alternatives available.

Regulators should read it
Economics of Regulation and Antitrust offers a broad conclusion on Regulation and Antitrust policies. The issues are well described and easily to understand. Best suited for graduate students in Economics.

Horrible
This read like a math book with a few interesting facts.I was dumbfouned by reading this book.I would get to class and my professor would explain things using the same examples from the book and I would understand. The book is impossible to follow.It will give you a million variables and different numbers to think about, and then later expect you to remember something it briefly mentioned two paragraphs ago.If you can learn from reading a math book and no class room instruction; I not only would like to meet you but hand you this book.You would probably love it and understand antitrustlaw and regulation as well as the douches at MIT that wrote the thing. ... Read more

Product Description
The best textbook for the in-depth study of labor market theories, THE ECONOMICS OF LABOR MARKETS helps you understand the background of the field as you explore its latest developments. Using built-in study aids and empirical research, the authors provide you an understandable introduction to labor economics.With sections on "In the News" and the most up-to-date data available, this version shows you how labor markets move the world. And after reading the industry-leading chapter reviews you'll be one step closer to success in the course. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Book Order
The product was delivered within the estimated time period and was in excellent condition. I would recommend to anyone.

Clean copy...

Subsequent edition cost about $150.Found this previous edition on the marketplace for $8 shipped.Very little markings and the book had only minor wear.Accurate description, thanks guys.

The Economics of Labor Markets (with Economic Applications and InfoTracPrinted Access Card)(purchased on 05/15/2009)
I received my purchase in a timely manner and product was as described. I would recommend to other Amazon users. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (1)

Exactly What You Would Expect
The product came in brand new with the MyEcon Lab wrapped with it with no problems.The book itself is straightforward for an introduction to money and finance, but a good one nonetheless. ... Read more

Product Description
David R. Hakes (University of Northern Iowa) has prepared a study guide that will enhance student success. Each chapter of the study guide includes learning objectives, a description of the chapter's context and purpose, a chapter review, key terms and definitions, advanced critical thinking questions, and helpful hints for understanding difficult concepts. Students can develop their understanding by doing the practice problems and short answer question, then assess their mastery of the key concepts with the self-test, which includes true/false and multiple choice questions. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Prof who likes the problems
I'm a professor of economics who has used Mankiw for both micro and macro for a number of years. Last fall, the publisher sent me a copy of the study guide and I admit that I am very impressed. While the readings might not be very useful if you're already reading the text...the problems are wonderful! I am a FIRM believer that students cannot fully learn economics unless they put pencil to paper and actually practice. The benefit of the material in this over the questions in the textbook is that it provides the ANSWERS. The answers are in the back of the book and are very helpful for understanding why the correct answer is correct.

I hesitate to give 5 stars because I think that some of the "advanced thinking" questions do not have one correct answer. Students could provide answers in a variety of ways that are correct and the answer key does not always acknowledge this fact.

Regardless, I think it's a VERY useful study tool and I plan to encourage my students to buy it as a way to achieve high grades in both macro and micro.

Principles of Economics Study Guide
It's helpful but a bid too expensive. I mean if you read the book that's should be good enough. But if you don't read the textbook then the study guide would help you pass the class. I didn't really have time to read it. So if you think you think you need help on top of reading the textbook then this is good. If you are planning to read the textbook then the study guide is almost the same thing. Besides, no one really has the time to go finish all of the exercises. I just used the study guide's summary. The bottom line is buy it if you have time to use it (or complete it) or else it'd be a waste of money.

This is the Study Guide
The presentation of this book is confusing. The book presented is the study guide to Mankiw's "Priciple of Economics" prepared by David Hakes, not a paperback Edition of the Hardcover Testbook. Caveat Emptor! ... Read more

Product Description

Product Description
Widely renowned for its seamless integration of textbook and video learning, Economics U$A is one of the most successful telecourses ever produced. Now available in a carefully revised and updated Seventh Edition, the text continues to emphasize the real-world applications of the most current economic principles and data in a clear and inviting format.

Carefully integrated with 28 half-hour video programs produced by the Educational Film Center in Annandale, Virginia, the text accessibly frames the concepts and issues students need to gain a thorough understanding of modern economics. Each video episode features original and archival film footage, newspaper clippings, graphics, animation, and expert commentary. One-third of the videos have been updated for the Seventh Edition. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Good Book
The delivery was quick... Cover was bent on the corners.. But the inside of the book was clean. Thanks!

Economics U$A, Seventh Edition
Half the price I would have gotten for if I didn't surf around to look at the "new and used" icon. Definitely be careful when you search for books on Amazon. I can get a little tricky. The initial page that shows up usually shows you the highest price of the book that they carry. Even though it was in the "used" section, the book came in brand new just like the description. Totally satisfied.

good
The wrappage is kind of old, but the inside is clean. Overall, it is good.

Economics U$A, 7th Edition
Nice and exact book what I need; I saved money on this one.

Great quality!
The textbook purchased was in excellent condition and was received in a very timely manner. The price was a bit much, but all in all I would consider it a positive purchasing experience. Thanks! ... Read more

Product Description

On October 13, 1992, the Royal Swedish Academy announced the award of the Nobel Prize in economic sciences to Gary S. Becker, a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution and University Professor of Economics and Sociology at the University of Chicago.In announcing the award, Gary was cited for Extending "the domain of microeconomic analysis to a wide range of human behavior and interaction, including nonmarket behavior."In the lecture he delivered as part of the 1992 Nobel Prize award ceremony, Gary discussed four topics--discrimination against minorities, crime and punishment, the development and accumulation of human capital, and the structure of families--that are emblematic of his innovative approach to the economic analysis of social issues.

... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Economic insights into Social Policy
Becker speaks in his Nobel lecture on four areas in which his work has centered. investments in human capital
behavior of the family (or household), including distribution of work and allocation of time in the family,crime and punishment,discrimination on the markets for labor and goods.
One of his areas of focus is on the rising value of time due to economic growth. He explains lower fertility rates on this basis.He also analyses divorce data and makes the conclusion that more wealthy families have fewer divorces precisely because the cost to them is much greater.
He makes observations about Crime which see the activity as often being the result of a rational calculus. He analyses the situations of minorities in societies and says when a minority is a small one dicrimination harms it, and not the larger society. But when a minority becomes large enough discrimination proves detrimental to minority and majority alike.
I do not have the tools to truly analyze or even understand Becker's work. Thus all I have done here is to mention a few of the major points of his work.


Becker at an economics panel discussion at the University of Chicago in 2003
[edit]

What is Economics?
Becker has written his view over the scope and method of economic analysis. And he argues that economics is a particular way in analyzing human behavior. This is an excellent presntation on the meaning ofeconomics. ... Read more

Product Description
Research on forecasting methods has made important progress over recent years and these developments are brought together in the Handbook of Economic Forecasting. The handbook covers developments in how forecasts are constructed based on multivariate time-series models, dynamic factor models, nonlinear models and combination methods. The handbook also includes chapters on forecast evaluation, including evaluation of point forecasts and probability forecasts and contains chapters on survey forecasts and volatility forecasts. Areas of applications of forecasts covered in the handbook include economics, finance and marketing.

*Addresses economic forecasting methodology, forecasting models, forecasting with different data structures, and the applications of forecasting methods
*Insights within this volume can be applied to economics, finance and marketing disciplines ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Good reference
The compilation of articles in this book gives a wide overview of the many techniques that are used in economic forecasting and each article compares the virtues of its approach with others that are used. Some readers, especially those who are just beginning their careers in econometrics and financial modeling may believe that economic models form a hierarchy, with the best ones being on top while the marginal ones are at the bottom. In addition, some may believe that more modern approaches are better than the ones taken several decades ago or conversely that no improvements have been made in economic modeling since it was established as a profession. As an example, recently a former chairman of the Federal Reserve stated that the economic forecasting tools of today are no better than ones in existence fifty years ago. He offered no evidence for this claim, no doubt because of the gargantuan amount of effort it would take to establish it. Indeed, to compare econometric models requires agreement on what constitutes a "valid" or "good" model, and once this is settled one frequently requires another model to do the comparisons. In addition, models are built for particular situations, domains, and contexts, and it is very common for a model to work much better than another in one context but fail miserably when compared to the other in another context. Ordinary linear regression for example can be better than more "sophisticated" approaches like neural networks in some areas of application. A more complex model is therefore not necessarily better than one that is relatively simple. So economic models do not form a hierarchy under any nontrivial classification of merit, nor can it be said that no progress has been made in economic modeling over the past fifty years.

The approaches to economic modeling as outlined in this book definitely support the idea that there is no free lunch when it comes to forecasting. It is the context that governs the efficacy of one model over another, and it might be said with fairness that the ability to select the proper model for this context comes with experience. This experience is definitely reflected in the authors that have composed the articles in this book. Readers will probably not read every article in the book, but will instead select those that interest them or those that show the most practical promise.

For this reviewer, some of the highlights of this work include:
* The discussion of the two principles behind Bayesian forecasting: the principle of explicit formulation and the principle of relevant conditioning. The later principle is always violated by non-Bayesian forecasting techniques
* A view of economic models of being "means", not "ends". This distinction is one to be kept in mind especially at the present time where financial modeling and economic forecasting is being blamed for much, if not all, of the turmoil in the financial markets.
* The discussion of the importance and need for discarding irrelevant information when doing simulations of joint distributions. As discussed in the book the justification for this omission can be given a sound, quantitative foundation.
* The importance of doing simulations rather than finding analytical solutions in economic modeling.
* More in-depth discussion on how to choose the prior distribution in Bayesian economic forecasting, thus removing some of the objections of this selection always being "purely subjective."
* The discussion on `hyperparameters' and their connection to latent variables and `hierarchical prior distributions.' These notions have recently been applied to forecasting of housing prices. The book mentions many other applications.
* The discussion on the `Bayes factor' and its use in assessing the evidence in favor of one economic model versus another. Recently the notion of a Bayes factor has been generalized in the field of artificial intelligence, wherein it is used to measure to what degree one machine is more "intelligent" (i.e. can better solve problems) than another.
* The discussion on the role of `posterior predictive' distributions in the construction of new economic models.
* The discussion on state space models, particularly the Kalman filter and its Bayesian interpretation. More discussion on the evaluation of the likelihood function would be appropriate here, especially computational issues surrounding the inversion of the innovation matrix.

Some of the downsides to the book include:
* There are relatively few explicit numerical examples illustrating the efficacies of the different models.
* Some of most important discussions are delegated to the references, although the reference list is quite extensive.
* The more "exotic" approaches to modeling, most of these coming from the field of artificial intelligence, are omitted or are only discussed briefly. Omitted topics include support vector machines, hidden Markov models, and inductive logic programming.
* No in-depth discussion of the tractability/computational complexity of the econometric models included. Issues of tractability are very important to those who are to implement these models in practice.

Excellent source of reference for econometric forecasting
This is the most comprehensive and authoritative source of reference for the econometric forecasting, I've seen. The editors and the writers are from the top of the discipline. Many texts are fairly mathematical, so the solid understanding of the basics of the statistics and the time series econometrics is required. ... Read more

Product Description
Providing questions from past exam papers as well as new questions set by actual A Level examiners, this book on economics is one of a series. The authors, who are all either Chief Examiners or Examiners, have prepared answers and a full mark scheme for each of the questions. They also include their tips on what the examiner is looking for and how to avoid the most commonly made mistakes. Questions are divided into topics with a brief revision summary for each topic, and all the answers are at the back of the book, thus encouraging the student to attempt the questions before referring to the answers. Each book has a general introduction which includes advice on revision and exam technique as well as outlining the types of question likely to be faced. The series is suitable for all A Level boards and Scottish Higher papers, and is a suitable complement to "Letts A Level Study Guides". ... Read more

Product Description
Surely the Great Depression could never happen again. Or could it?Today, the tragedy of the Great Depression looks gratuitous and unnecessary: Our economists and policy makers simply have gained too much experience since then. It could never happen again. Or could it? Over the course of the last two years, six Asian economies have experienced an economic slump that bears an eerie resemblance to the Great Depression. Russia defaulted on its debt in 1998--an event that, halfway around the world, drove Brazilian interest rates through the roof and terrified the U.S. bond market. Some of the brightest financiers in the world, working for the Long-Term Capital Corporation, thought they had the market licked only to find themselves in a jam that had all the makings of the overleveraged positions that caused the 1929 stock market crash. Paul Krugman, one of the world's top economists, recounts these events and more: He points out that they raise significant questions for which policy makers may not have answers. This paperback edition features a brand-new preface by Krugman on the financial realities of the past year.Amazon.com Review
What do babysitting coops and liquidity traps have in common?Lots, according to Paul Krugman. In The Return of DepressionEconomics, the MIT professor looks at the alarming string offinancial crises that plagued various economies around the globe inthe 1990s, especially the Asian contagion, and sees an "eerieresemblance to the Great Depression." Instead of the "new world order"promised by the triumph of capitalism over socialism, "the worldeconomy has turned out to be a much more dangerous place than weimagined."

Krugman uses the example of a Washington, D.C., babysitting coop toexplain the dynamics of recession and inflation. He examines theremarkable emergence of Asia and the precursors to the Asian mess--theTequila Effect of the mid-'90s that began in Mexico and Japan's fallin the early '90s into an economic malaise. He then analyzes theunderlying reasons for the collapse of the Thai baht and other Asiancurrencies as well as the subsequent actions of the IMF and the murkyrole of hedge funds. In the end, Krugman sees the return of depressioneconomics, which "means that for the first time in two generations,failures on the demand side of the economy--insufficient privatespending to make use of the available productive capacity--have becomethe clear and present limitation on prosperity for a large part of theworld." It's the same problem that was at the root of the 1930sdepression. And while it took a world war to solve that problem,Krugman sees solutions that are far less dramatic but that do requirea willingness to chuck obsolete doctrines and think about old problemsin new ways.

Over the years, Krugman has earned a well-deserved reputation fortranslating the jargon that economists speak into something thatanyone with an interest--not necessarily a Ph.D.--canunderstand. The Return of Depression Economics is anothertimely testament to Krugman's ability to read and interpret the tealeaves of today's global economy. Highly recommended. --HarryC. Edwards ... Read more

Customer Reviews (62)

Written in 1999, still valid today !
Red wine gets better with age.The same goes with well-thought books made by brilliant people who have the right economic insights, as Professor Paul Krugman.

This is book about recent economic history and also an introduction to economic key concepts in the modern world.What the book said back in 1999 (when it was first written) is still relevant today.There are no formulas and graphs, which make the book very "readable", as a novel that can be digested at your pace.

The book is not only about the East-Asian nations economic crises in 1998, but also about the earlier Tequila crises (Mexico and LATAM) and the "Japan's lost decade".It goes through the economic history of these nations in the '90s, explaining how crises happened and were dealt with.It does not just report events though, but also explains economics' and financial dynamics, basically giving you an economic course "in motion".It requires some level of concentration from the casual reader though, and possibly the expert too.Actually, although excellently written, the book is full of insights that do require attention for a full understanding.

There is this famous quote from the book: "can it happen to us ? " (the US and other developed markets, referring to the financial crises).It actually did.
A must read, in my opinion, in order to understand and follow current economic and financial developments.

Brilliant Nonsense
This book is an example of what happens when high intelligence is mixed with blind emotion and ideology. Krugman is a political hack with "an ax to grind" against market capitalism. He offers no valid statistical analysis to support his wild theory that government spending and regulation can save the U.S. economy. All past experience shows, unequivocally, the opposite to be true. In fact, Krugman is waging a war on reality, rejecting financial facts and human nature.Government intervention harms economies and leads to stagnation and costly bureaucracy that grows uncontrollably like a cancer, until the "patient" dies.

There was way to few of these books studying at the University!
Absolutely brilliant! A deeply serious economy book and an exiting page turner at the same time. An absolute must for anyone who is wandering what actually happened to our economy the last few years. There was way to few of these books studying economy at the University!

Krugman Earns His Nobel Standing!
This book was recommended to me by another Nobel Prize winner in economics (Jim Buchanan)!It earns its standing with clear, understandable explanations of the way the U.S. economy is supposed to work, and how it fails when it doesn't work!Not as good as Buchanan, but close!

More Shameless Moral Fiber Needed
Economist as technician or Economist as Moral Prophet -- which do we need?Paul Krugman's "The Return of Depression Economics" has proven to be prophetic in one way at least.It puts the lie to Cheney's recent statement that no one saw the 2008 crisis coming. This alone makes the book worth reading.

My main bone to pick is Krugman's efforts seemingly to exclude moral questions or even questions of judgment from the discussion.This is to me creates major distortions, of the 2008 mess especially.Moral questions are unavoidably hinted at but ignored as unimportant in the history part of the book also.

For example the enormous power of hedge fund operators to, at the very least, participate in the destruction of the economies of whole countries.Krugman lets the excuse of the vultures stand unquestioned:their victims were going down anyway.

I don't experience his columns or even much of his writing in this book as free of judgment, just undeveloped in analytical acceptance of moral questions as central to properly and most effectively "do economics."

In the light of our present economic mess, this assumption is, or at least should be, in question.The impression I am left with is that the field of economics forces reality into a moral-free zone; hence he too is sometimes reflecting that artificial and distorting mentality.

I first experienced this reaction on page 17 when he discusses the baby-sitting co-op in order to present how recessions happen and how to deal with them:

"This system was, by construction shirkproof:it automatically ensured that over time each couple would provide exactly as many hours of baby-sitting as it received."Shirkproof?Nothing is shirkproof.

Krugman then asks why the baby-sitting co-op got into a recession and says:"It was not because the members of the co-op were doing a bad job of baby-sitting: maybe they were, maybe they weren't, but anyway that is a separate issue."

Why is it a separate issue in the real world?Perhaps in the academic study of economics there is reason to separate out some simple or "pure" principles of economics, for purposes of study only.But in the real world economics at every point is intertwined with a moral universe.

For example, couples may have been pretending they were as committed to the program as everyone else in the co-op but were undermining the system by their behaviors and attitudes.Perhaps they were hording coupons for kicks or out of latent asocial sloppiness, irresponsibility, whatever.

Perhaps the baby-sitting co-op broke down because no one was interested in trying to address real issues or problems that naturally always arise.Everyone was just assuming free markets just take care of themselves, if you just leave out all moral/social questions.

Some couples may have had fears that their children were being abused, or vs. versa, wanted to babysit all the time so they could abuse children.

Krugman says: "It wasn't because the co-op suffered from `Capitol Hill values,'"Why not?Couples may have been avoiding babysitting as beneath them.

"...or engaged in `crony baby-sittingism' or had failed to adjust to changing baby-sitting technology as well as its competitors. "Why not?Some couples may have only wanted to participate with friends and tried to keep others out.Others may have sought out only the couples with the high tech toys.

The problem according to Krugman "was not with the co-op's ability to produce, but simply a lack of `effective demand'... The lesson for the real world is that your vulnerability to the business cycle may have little or nothing to do with your more fundamental economic strengths and weaknesses: bad things can happen to good economies."

This no doubt is true, but it doesn't follow that many more bad things don't happen to very bad economies, or that bad economies, not always, but perhaps often can be closely associated with or directly tie to underlying ethically questionable behavior, attitudes, or principles.

Krugman defines and discusses the present "depression economics" (as distinct from an actual depression, which we may never fully enter):"Depression economics is the failure of the demand side of the economy to create prosperity for the greater part of the world."

Why care about the greater part of the world?This definition contains the seeds of Krugman's morality but as I said, always indirectly discussed, not as central to good economics. Yet isn't part of the reason we are in this mess because too few cared enough about the success of the system they claim to champion?

Krugman sees his critical contribution in terms of an effort to correct the ideological fundamentalism of the last decades.He writes with style and poetry: "The truth is that good old-fashioned demand-side macroeconomics has a lot to offer in our current predicament--but its defenders lack all conviction, while its critics are filled with a passionate intensity."

He ends by leading the reader into the hands of his mentor of sorts I suppose -- John Maynard Keynesand his book "The General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money" - who says, "Soon or late, it is ideas, not vested interests, which are dangerous for good or evil."

Bravo to Krugman who ends:"We will not achieve the understanding we need, however, unless we are willing to think clearly about our problems and to follow those thoughts wherever they lead."
... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

solid book on price theory
Good old price theory, Chicago style. Complements nicely more theoretical approaches like those of Mas-Colell et al. or Reny and Jehle.

Deepening your understanding in microeconomics
This book is very innovative in the sense that some concepts taken for granted are challenged. For instance, even if the consumer behaves irrationally, the demand tends to be negatively inclined, because theresources are scarce. Sometimes, the book gets very difficult, and thereader has to derive some equations. It is very interesting thepresentation of the creative theory of allocation of time. The book doesnot argue General Equilibrium, but it has an extensive and non usualdiscussion about human capital. Also, note that this is not a subjectusually covered in introductory books. Finally, it should be pointed outthat some exercises are really hard, although they are not mathematicallydemanding. I do not recommend this book for beginners, but for those whowish to deepen his knowledge about microeconomics. ... Read more

Product Description
Environmental Economics is an introduction to the basic principles of environmental economics as they have been developed in the past and as they continue to evolve.The examples discussed in this textbook represent only a sample of the full range of issues that actually exists.For this reason, the Fifth Edition sticks to the basic ideas and ways that environmental economists have found to make the basic concepts and models more specific and relevant to concrete environmental issues.The basic structure and sequence of chapters are unchanged but contains new and updated material that reflects the new research efforts by environmental economists over the last few years. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

environmental economics
Learn how our environmental regulations really impact our economy and what the true cost of clean up is.

Excellent Intro to Environ reesource economics
This book holds an excewllent treatment of the range and focus of topics which fall under the environmental resource economics realm.The author addresses both the fundamentals and advanced social concepts mixed withexcellent examples of the economic principles which resource managers mustmake during the policy process and the inherent problems these policiespresent.A must read for anyone interested in working in the publicsector. ... Read more

Product Description
This book presents a variety of computational methods used to solve dynamic problems in economics and finance. It emphasizes practical numerical methods rather than mathematical proofs and focuses on techniques that apply directly to economic analyses. The examples are drawn from a wide range of subspecialties of economics and finance, with particular emphasis on problems in agricultural and resource economics, macroeconomics, and finance. The book also provides an extensive Web-site library of computer utilities and demonstration programs.The book is divided into two parts. The first part develops basic numerical methods, including linear and nonlinear equation methods, complementarity methods, finite-dimensional optimization, numerical integration and differentiation, and function approximation. The second part presents methods for solving dynamic stochastic models in economics and finance, including dynamic programming, rational expectations, and arbitrage pricing models in discrete and continuous time. The book uses MATLAB to illustrate the algorithms and includes a utilities toolbox to help readers develop their own computational economics applications. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (8)

Great book for neumerical analysis
I used this book for a course taught in my Graduate studies. This book makes understanding concepts so much easy, and is very readable as well. It provides examples with codes written to carry out the examples as well. The end-of-chapter exercises are also helpful and relevant. A must purchase for any economics students interested in Computational and neumerical economics.

very good book for applied economics
very good book for applied economics with many examples and usefull Matlab codes. Very good and useful Matlab toolkit.
However, the theoretical side is relatively weak and not covered well.

Practical and theoretical
What I like about this book is that it combines theory, with Matlab code to practice. Besides, the theory of numerical analysis is treated in a very focused way, so you won't be learning very abstract stuff, instead, you will learn the basic theory needed to understand how numerical analysis helps in economics and finance. I took the course given by the author Mario Miranda, that also helped a lot. The CompEcon toolbox for Matlab is EXTREMELY useful.

Excellent introduction to computational economics
In Economics I often find it difficult to write the codes that replicate the models in many papers. This book is an excellent introduction to computational economics and for actually solving things in Matlab.

Applied Computation Economics and Finance
This is a really good book in numerical methods. It goes step by step and has exercises you can do while reading the book that help you not only understand the topics and do it yourself, but apply numerical methods to every-day problems. ... Read more

Product Description
Networks are fastest-growing components in most industries. Network industries include the Internet, e-mail, telephony, computer hardware and software, music and video players, and service operations in businesses overseas, banking, law, and airlines. Oz Shy conveys the essential features of how strategic interactions among firms are affected by network activity, and how social interaction influences consumers' choices of products and services.Oz Shy is on the faculty of economics at the University of Haifa, in Haifa, Israel. His previous book is Industrial Organization: Theory and Applications (MIT Press, 1996). ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Buy Gottinger's book instead
This is a very interesting book that covers the full range of network industries - and is in many ways a welcome addition to the literature.

However, I found the pitch of the book to be not quite right. In an attempt to satisfy a student market, the presentation is a little simplistic in places. Although there are IO courses everywhere, there are few solely devoted to network industries - so it is surprising that the publishers risked producing a paperback.

As a consumer, the price of Professor Shy's book is an appealing factor, but I found Hans Gottinger's far more up-to-date, rigorous and analytical book of the same title (Routledge, 2003) more stimulating.

Network economics in one solid and compact book
This is an original academic textbook for network economics. Oz Shy starts the book by making some reasonable claims on his discipline at large: scientific papers in economics are too technical and use unnecessary amounts of calculus. Though the book is very analytical and covers a wide scope of issues, prerequisites are at a considerably low level. Because the book uses game theory and logical reasoning instead of calculus, it is accessible to readers with different backgrounds. This book will be in good use at least with the students of economics and engineering.

The book starts from the basic economics of networks and then analyses various networked industries from hardware to software and airlines to social interactions. Most topics stand separately on their own feet. The book ends with a compact presentation on the used game theoretical concepts as appendices.

Being a texbook in economics, however, does not excuse inaccurate and sometimes clearly misleading use of technical terms. I had serious problems understanding why "software" denotes in this book to all kind of digital content including music and movies. In my mind, the word software is restricted to computer programs and associated materials. Also, building models on some specific technology, Shy continuously leaps over the problem of defining its essential features, which should (or should not) be modeled. Taking definitions of technical terms as given (by Shy) can definitely confuse at least engineering students.

In overall, this book might be best characterized as an academic add-on to the well-known business book "Information Rules" by Carl Shapiro and Hal Varian. With some inaccurancies and perhaps some time-gap to real world applications, it makes a good textbook. Essential parts are timeless and presentation clear. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (6)

Fantastic!
One of the few books on capitalism that 'get it'

Stanford picks apart neo-classical economics and understands that neither people nor markets are rational or stable and should not be treated as such, he also is a gifted writer and delivers complicated economic theory to the reader in a splendid and funny way.

Good intro to how capitalism works (or not)
Jim Stanford, who is economist for the Canadian Auto Workers union, has produced a useful introduction to the economics of capitalism. He shows us capitalism's basics: work, tools and profit; how it works (or doesn't) as a system; its complexity; and various challenges to capitalism. He shows up capitalism's inherent failings and proposes policies that would be in the interests of the working class, the vast majority of the population in industrial countries.

He points out, "Most modern jobs and careers fall into the category of wage labour - whether they are in private companies or public agencies, blue-collar or white-collar. The stereotype of a `worker' as someone who performs menial tasks on an assembly line is badly outdated. Workers today perform a wide variety of functions, many of them requiring advanced skills. But they are still workers, so long as they perform that work for somebody else, in return for a wage or salary. Scientists in a research laboratory; surgeons in a large hospital; engineers in a construction firm - these are all workers (although culturally, they may not like to define themselves as such). They perform their labour in return for a salary, and they do not own or significantly control the organization which they work for."

He shows that the capitalist class is just two per cent of the population, and note, "Many of these rich individuals work; but the key distinction here is that they don't have to work, since they own enough business wealth to support themselves very comfortably without working."

He praises Cuba: "Socialist Cuba - where average health outcomes are superior to those in the US - manages to do more, given its GDP, to improve human welfare than any other country in the world. ... Cuba's admirable social achievements (its education, health, and cultural indicators outrank most developing countries, and even many developed countries) demonstrate the potential of socialism to leverage the maximum possible well-being from a given amount of material production."

He also points out how employers gain from the free movement of labour: "employers are permitted to re-create abundant supplies of cheap, desperate labour by exploiting vulnerable immigrants ... Capitalists may encourage these migrations when they face uncomfortably tight labour market conditions in particular countries (in which case immigration is a convenient way to keep a lid on wages)."

As he observes, "Migrants are treated as temporary, second-class citizens, often forced to return to their country of origin when their jobs are finished, and subjected to social and legal abuses in the interim. Their migration can also harm the countries they leave - especially since it is usually the best-educated, most capable people who are allowed to migrate to better-paying opportunities in other countries."

terrible book
The author is a socialist, I get that.according to the author the workers should not feel bad if the company they work for goes bankrupt. he does not think that workers should own any of the business or take any risk and at the same time should get all the profits because the owner is not "doing anything". The ONLY part of production that creates wealth is the labor, that the owner that pays for the machines or the building or anything else does not deserve any of it because he is not "working". Some examples are strange about how people who work for themselves somehow earn less and work longer hours than those who work for others. If this is so then why would anyone choose this?

while I do think there is room for improvement in a capitalist system, I do not see how abolishing private ownership would make things better.

Some people are just a "train-wreck" they will not take good advice when they are given it and cannot seem to forego current wants for long term stability and comfort (retirement).

this book made me more comfortable with capitalism by showing me the sillyness of arguments against it!

A primer on heterodox economics
Of all the books I have bought for myself over the years, this is definitely one of the most useful ones I have read. Rather than being one of those books that try to present economics as a universal science, capable of explaining everything from a few absolute truths, "Economics for Everyone" showed me a side of economics I had never experimented. All of the economics courses I took as an undergrad focused on neoclassical economics. The problem, however, is that I was never told that neoclassical economics is just one possible explanation of economic phenomena. "Economics for Everyone" made me understand this.

From the very beginning, Jim Stanford (a New School graduate and trade union economist) approaches the subject in a critical manner, emphasising the fact that economics should be a more democratic subject of study, where the visions of all segments of society ought to be meaningful for the purpose of seeking solutions to everyday problems. Economics is not just the sacred knowledge of a caste of economic gurus. Instead, Stanford advocates a more grassroots approach to economics and a more critical stance vis-à-vis capitalism, as - may I add - capitalism is there to try and make our lives more prosperous, not vice versa: if it doesn't work, we must have the courage to challenge it, and advocate its reform.

Content-wise, the book presents an incredibly accessible overview of macroeconomic topics. In particular, it starts from presenting a basic "closed" economy featuring just workers and firms, and later goes on adding players to this picture, such as governments, the environment, the financial sector and foreign trade. In so doing, however, Stanford puts his education as a heterodox economics to good use, bring to bear on the various problems a wealth of different perspectives: Keynesian, Marxist and feminist, to name those I was able explicitly to recognise myself.

Stanford offers a very strong and credible voice in favor of a more participatory and democratic approach in suggesting policy conclusions vis-à-vis the economic problems of the modern world. Highly recommended!

Because understanding of economics is too important to be left to politicans and economists
Excellent text for individuals seeking for a source introducing and critically examining the key economic concepts and issues. The format is very accessible and enjoyable. It will be suitable for high school students and adults without a background in critical theory. This is much more than a standard textbook in economic theory and if you are choosing between this text and a textbook, this one should be the one you read first. If you do have a basic background in economics but not critical theory, this is still a required reading for you. ... Read more

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Developed fifty years ago by the National Bureau of Economic Research, the analytic methods of business cycles and economic indicators enable economists to forecast economic trends by examining the repetitive sequences that occur in business cycles. The methodology has proven to be an inexpensive and useful tool that is now used extensively throughout the world. In recent years, however, significant new developments have emerged in the field of business cycles and economic indicators. This volume contains twenty-two articles by international experts who are working with new and innovative approaches to indicator research.They cover advances in three broad areas of research: the use of new developments in economic theory and time-series analysis to rationalize existing systems of indicators; more appropriate methods to evaluate the forecasting records of leading indicators, particularly of turning point probability; and the development of new indicators. ... Read more

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Solutions manual to the classic textbook Recursive Methods in Economic Dynamics. The exercises in the book are integral to the text. This manual provides detailed answers to the problems in Recursive Methods. Softcover. ... Read more

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Wide in scope, current and thorough, a bit dry
An excellent text or required reading for a course in social entrepreneurship, if only for those students with a thorough grounding in economics. Covering entrepreneurial, wealth-creating activities around the world, "Making poor nations rich" provides a useful sampling of efforts to eradicate poverty not through aid or poverty assistance programs but instead through creative capitalism and social entrepreneurship. Another good example of going well beyond giving a person a fish and, instead, helping her start a sustainable business. Wealth transfer and re-distribution are insufficient if well-intentioned remedies and globalization, free trade, and even some creative destruction are much more benevolent for the poor than they are often painted.

why some countries are poor and how they can be rich
"Making Poor Nations Rich" is a very good book. It consists of three main parts. The first part deals with institutions and entrepreneurship. The second part is about the importance of constrained entrepreneurship on economic development in Africa, Latin America, Scandinavia, and the transitional economies of the former USSR. The final part stresses the benefit of the reforms underlying the growth spurt in entrepreneurship in China and the Republic of Ireland, and the difficulties that challenge entrepreneurship in India, New Zealand, and Botswana.

If pressed to rank the sections of the book in descending order of their strengths, I would say: Foreword, Introduction, Part 1, Part 3, and Part 2. However, such an orderingis too subjective for a great book like this one. I give it 5-stars.

Amavilah, Author
Modeling Determinants of Income in Embedded Economies
ISBN: 1600210465
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Learn economics the easy way with ESSENTIALS OF ECONOMICS! Designed to take the intimidation out of economics, this economics text will help you master and retain the principles of economics. Short learning units, a built-in study guide, graphs, photos, and numerous study aids found throughout the text make learning easy by saving you valuable time. Xtra! provides you with the additional content practice and exam review materials you need to be successful in the course. ... Read more

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This is a really great economics text!
This comprehensive text is arranged in a modern way with study guides and review questions at the end of each chapter to make sure that you are understanding the concepts. It offers the option of Homework Xpress!, an online method of completing the end-of-the chapter exercises via the internet.Unfamiliar terms are bolded and definitions are highlighted. Each section of the chapter has a box that describes the material that you should have learned from reading the earlier section. ... Read more