First published in 1981, this book brings together a collection of essays on microeconomics and development presented at the conference of the Association of University Teachers of Economics. Topics covered include the intergenerational transfer of economic inequality, a review of the recent development in the theory of equity in the economy’s distribution and production process, labour and unemployment, market structure and international trade, taxation and the public sector, Third World industrialisation and Indian agriculture. This book will be of interest to students of Economics and Development Studies.

First published in 1981, this book brings together a collection of essays on microeconomics and development presented at the conference of the Association of University Teachers of Economics. Topics covered include the intergenerational transfer of economic inequality, a review of the recent development in the theory of equity in the economy’s distribution and production process, labour and unemployment, market structure and international trade, taxation and the public sector, Third World industrialisation and Indian agriculture. This book will be of interest to students of Economics and Development Studies.

The major methodological task for modern economists has been to establish the testability of models. Too often, however, methodological assumptions can make a model virtually impossible to test even under ideal conditions, yet few theorists have examined the requirements and problems of assuring testability in economics. In The Methodology of Economic Model Building, first published in 1989, Lawrence Boland presents the results of a research project that spanned more than twenty years. He examines how economists have applied the philosophy of Karl Popper, relating methodological debates about falsifiability to wider discussions about the truth status of models in natural and social sciences. He concludes that model building in economics reflects more the methodological prescriptions of the economist Paul Samuelson than Popper’s ‘falsificationism’. This title will prove invaluable to both students and researchers, and represents a substantial contribution to debates about the scientific status of economics.

This book, written by two leading Swedish economists and first published in 1984, constitutes a threefold contribution to the expanding field of economic discrimination. In the first place, it summarizes different approaches to the economics of discrimination, from the beginning of the British debate on equal pay in the 1890s onwards. Secondly, the book contains analytical chapters that, taking the theory originated by Gary Becker as their point of departure, critique and develop the Beckerian theory in a number of ways; in particular, the phenomenon known as crowding is investigated in different models. Finally, the theories thus developed are applied to a concrete case of discrimination: that of apartheid in South Africa. This is a fascinating title that will be of value to any economics students researching the development of discrimination theory during the twentieth century in particular.

First published in 1986, this title argues that the successful development of a new microeconomics requires a deeper understanding of methodological individualism and its role in stability analysis. Lawrence Boland expounds a critique of neoclassical models, which, he contends, often fail to include an explicit stability analysis. He demonstrates that much of the sophisticated theoretical literature over the past thirty years can be understood as ad hoc attempts to overcome the deficiencies of such models in the absence of cogent stability analyses. In conclusion, he explains the need to update the theory taught at universities, and to develop a truly individualist version of microeconomics that is consistent with the methodological principles of major neoclassical models. An important contribution to economic methodology, this work is a highly valuable resource for all students and teachers of economics at the undergraduate level.

First published in 1986, this title argues that the successful development of a new microeconomics requires a deeper understanding of methodological individualism and its role in stability analysis. Lawrence Boland expounds a critique of neoclassical models, which, he contends, often fail to include an explicit stability analysis. He demonstrates that much of the sophisticated theoretical literature over the past thirty years can be understood as ad hoc attempts to overcome the deficiencies of such models in the absence of cogent stability analyses. In conclusion, he explains the need to update the theory taught at universities, and to develop a truly individualist version of microeconomics that is consistent with the methodological principles of major neoclassical models. An important contribution to economic methodology, this work is a highly valuable resource for all students and teachers of economics at the undergraduate level.

This book gathers a collection of multidisciplinary essays by Jess Huerta de Soto, examining the dynamic processes of social cooperation which characterize the market, with particular emphasis on the role of both entrepreneurship and institutions.