An answer for the economist is a question for a policy maker. Most economists are confronted daily with the practical question of how the world is organised and how the global economy performs? When economists conclude they can grasp certain aspects scientifically, they offer an answer, which becomes, in turn, a question to the policy makers, keen on changing the world for the better. The unique approach presented in the book is the combination of the theoretical considerations with the policy viewpoint analysis, due to the author's own experience with policy-making as deputy premier and finance minister of Poland (twice and very successful as an architect of Polish reforms). Another important feature is a vast, yet comprehensive and deep discussion of the interactions between technology change and society and the economy both, in the world economy and in emerging markets, especially the post-communist ones. Of great importance for sustained development are the institutions. They are not only created and built, but also need to be learnt. Not only theoretical arguments, but also the practical experience demonstrates that faster economic growth is attained by those countries which take greater care to foster the institutional reinforcement of market economy and civic society. Yet progress in market-economy institution building is not in itself sufficient to ensure durable and fast growth. Another indispensable component is an appropriately designed and implemented economic policy, which must not confuse the means with the aims.

This book, which comprises eight chapters, presents a comprehensive critical survey of the results and methods of laboratory experiments in economics. The first chapter provides an introduction to experimental economics as a whole, with the remaining chapters providing surveys by leading practitioners in areas of economics that have seen a concentration of experiments: public goods, coordination problems, bargaining, industrial organization, asset markets, auctions, and individual decision making. The work aims both to help specialists set an agenda for future research and to provide nonspecialists with a critical review of work completed to date. Its focus is on elucidating the role of experimental studies as a progressive research tool so that wherever possible, emphasis is on series of experiments that build on one another. The contributors to the volume--Colin Camerer, Charles A. Holt, John H. Kagel, John O. Ledyard, Jack Ochs, Alvin E. Roth, and Shyam Sunder--adopt a particular methodological point of view: the way to learn how to design and conduct experiments is to consider how good experiments grow organically out of the issues and hypotheses they are designed to investigate.

This book is the first comprehensive assessment of the mortality crisis which has affected most economies in transition but which has remained so far largely unexplained. It reconciles long-term and short-term explanations of the crisis and makes use of special micro data-sets never used before. By providing a rigorous multidisciplinary analysis of this upsurge in mortality rates, the book hopes to contribute to the launch of vigorous policies to tackle this societal problem.

The study of investment under uncertainty was stagnant for several decades until developments in real options revitalized the field. The topics covered in this book include the reasons behind the under-investment programme.