This volume is the result of a conference held at the Institute for Advanced Studies, Vienna. There is still a gap reflected both in fundamental meth odological differences and in the style of analysis between the Walrasian (and Edgeworthian) tradition of general equilibrium theory and the theo retical and policy problems raised in the framework of Keynesian and post-Keynesian macroeconomics. The conference succeeded in bringing together economic theorists working in fields ranging from abstract prob lems of mathematical equilibrium analysis to applied macroeconomic theory, and it is hoped that the present volume will contribute to bridging the above-mentioned hiatus. As organizer of the meeting and editor of its proceedings I want to thank the Institute for Advanced Studies for providing facilities and funds. I am also sincerely grateful to all my colleagues from the Institute for their generous help, in particular to Mrs Monika Herkner without whose assistance and organizational talent the conference would certainly not have been the success it in fact - in the opinion of all participants - turned out to have been. Furthermore, I wish to express my gratitude towards all participants in the meeting and contributors to the volume whose patient support of the whole enterprise proved indispensable. To Mrs Elfriede Auracher I am deeply indebted for her skillful and effective general management of the editorial work and her invaluable assistance in compiling the indexes.

The most common mode of analysis in economic theory is to assume equilibrium. Yet, without a proper theory of how economies behave in disequilibrium, there is no foundation for such a practice. The necessary step in proposing a foundation is the formulation of a theory of stability, and in this 1984 book, Professor Fisher is primarily concerned with this subject, although disequilibrium behavior itself is analyzed. The author first undertakes a review of the existing literature on the stability of general equilibrium. He then proposes a more satisfactory general model in which agents realize their state of disequilibrium and act on arbitrage opportunities. The interrelated topics of the role of money, the nature of quantity constraints, and the optimal behaviour of arbitraging agents are extensively treated.

The international monetary system, and the disparate systems that make it up, are complex and there are many fallacies surrounding the ways in which they work. This book provides a clear and rigorous understanding of these systems and their possible consequences.

This volume is the result of a conference held at the Institute for Advanced Studies, Vienna. There is still a gap reflected both in fundamental meth odological differences and in the style of analysis between the Walrasian (and Edgeworthian) tradition of general equilibrium theory and the theo retical and policy problems raised in the framework of Keynesian and post-Keynesian macroeconomics. The conference succeeded in bringing together economic theorists working in fields ranging from abstract prob lems of mathematical equilibrium analysis to applied macroeconomic theory, and it is hoped that the present volume will contribute to bridging the above-mentioned hiatus. As organizer of the meeting and editor of its proceedings I want to thank the Institute for Advanced Studies for providing facilities and funds. I am also sincerely grateful to all my colleagues from the Institute for their generous help, in particular to Mrs Monika Herkner without whose assistance and organizational talent the conference would certainly not have been the success it in fact - in the opinion of all participants - turned out to have been. Furthermore, I wish to express my gratitude towards all participants in the meeting and contributors to the volume whose patient support of the whole enterprise proved indispensable. To Mrs Elfriede Auracher I am deeply indebted for her skillful and effective general management of the editorial work and her invaluable assistance in compiling the indexes.