Assessing Rational Expectations 2

Download Assessing Rational Expectations 2 full books in PDF, epub, and Kindle. Read online Assessing Rational Expectations 2 ebook anywhere anytime directly on your device. Fast Download speed and no annoying ads. We cannot guarantee that every ebooks is available!

Assessing Rational Expectations 2

Author : Roger Guesnerie
Publisher : MIT Press
ISBN 13 : 9780262262903
Total Pages : 498 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (629 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis Assessing Rational Expectations 2 by : Roger Guesnerie

Download or read book Assessing Rational Expectations 2 written by Roger Guesnerie and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2005-02-18 with total page 498 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A theoretical assessment of the Rational Expectations Hypothesis through subjecting a collection of economic models to an "eductive stability" test. The rational expectations hypothesis (REH) dominates economic modeling in areas ranging from monetary theory, macroeconomics, and general equilibrium to finance. In this book, Roger Guesnerie continues the critical analysis of the REH begun in his Assessing Rational Expectations: Sunspot Multiplicity and Economic Fluctuations, which dealt with the questions raised by multiplicity and its implications for a theory of endogenous fluctuations. This second volume emphasizes "eductive" learning: relying on careful reasoning, agents must deduce what other agents guess, a process that differs from the standard evolutionary learning experience in which agents make decisions about the future based on past experiences. A broad "eductive" stability test is proposed that includes common knowledge and results in a unique "rationalizable expectations equilibrium." This test provides the basis for Guesnerie's theoretical assessment of the plausibility of the REH's expectational coordination, emphasizing, for different categories of economic models, conditions for the REH's success or failure. Guesnerie begins by presenting the concepts and methods of the eductive stability analysis in selected partial equilibrium models. He then explores to what extent general equilibrium strategic complementarities interfere with partial equilibrium considerations in the formation of stable expectations. Guesnerie next examines two issues relating to eductive stability in financial market models, speculation and asymmetric price information. The dynamic settings of an infinite horizon model are then taken up, and particular standard and generalized saddle-path solutions are scrutinized. Guesnerie concludes with a review of general questions and some "cautious" remarks on the policy implications of his analysis.

Assessing Rational Expectations 2

Author : R. Guesnerie
Publisher : Mit Press
ISBN 13 : 9780262072588
Total Pages : 455 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (725 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis Assessing Rational Expectations 2 by : R. Guesnerie

Download or read book Assessing Rational Expectations 2 written by R. Guesnerie and published by Mit Press. This book was released on 2005 with total page 455 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A theoretical assessment of the Rational Expectations Hypothesis through subjecting a collection of economic models to an "eductive stability" test.

The Limits to Rational Expectations

Author : M. Hashem Pesaran
Publisher : Wiley-Blackwell
ISBN 13 : 9780631168850
Total Pages : 325 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (688 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis The Limits to Rational Expectations by : M. Hashem Pesaran

Download or read book The Limits to Rational Expectations written by M. Hashem Pesaran and published by Wiley-Blackwell. This book was released on 1989 with total page 325 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

A Comprehensive Assessment of the Role of Risk in U.S. Agriculture

Author : Richard E. Just
Publisher : Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN 13 : 1475735839
Total Pages : 580 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (757 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis A Comprehensive Assessment of the Role of Risk in U.S. Agriculture by : Richard E. Just

Download or read book A Comprehensive Assessment of the Role of Risk in U.S. Agriculture written by Richard E. Just and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2013-11-11 with total page 580 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: After all the research on agricultural risk to date, the treatment of risk in agricultural research is far from harmonious. Many competing risk models have been proposed. Some new methodologies are largely untested. Some of the leading empirical methodologies in agricultural economic research are poorly suited for problems with aggregate data where risk averse behavior is less likely to be important. This book is intended to (i) define the current state of the literature on agricultural risk research, (ii) provide a critical evaluation of economic risk research on agriculture to date and (iii) set a research agenda that will meet future needs and prospects. This type of research promises to become of increasing importance because agricultural policy in the United States and elsewhere has decidedly shifted from explicit income support objectives to risk-related motivations of helping farmers deal with risk. Beginning with the 1996 Farm Bill, the primary set of policy instruments from U.S. agriculture has shifted from target prices and set aside acreage to agricultural crop insurance. Because this book is intended to have specific implications for U.S. agricultural policy, it has a decidedly domestic scope, but clearly many of the issues have application abroad. For each of the papers and topics included in this volume, individuals have been selected to give the strongest and broadest possible treatment of each facet of the problem. The result is this comprehensive reference book on the economics of agricultural risk.

Rethinking Expectations

Author : Roman Frydman
Publisher : Princeton University Press
ISBN 13 : 0691155232
Total Pages : 440 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (911 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis Rethinking Expectations by : Roman Frydman

Download or read book Rethinking Expectations written by Roman Frydman and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2013 with total page 440 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book originated from a 2010 conference marking the fortieth anniversary of the publication of the landmark "Phelps volume," Microeconomic Foundations of Employment and Inflation Theory, a book that is often credited with pioneering the currently dominant approach to macroeconomic analysis. However, in their provocative introductory essay, Roman Frydman and Edmund Phelps argue that the vast majority of macroeconomic and finance models developed over the last four decades derailed, rather than built on, the Phelps volume's "microfoundations" approach. Whereas the contributors to the 1970 volume recognized the fundamental importance of according market participants' expectations an autonomous role, contemporary models rely on the rational expectations hypothesis (REH), which rules out such a role by design. The financial crisis that began in 2007, preceded by a spectacular boom and bust in asset prices that REH models implied could never happen, has spurred a quest for fresh approaches to macroeconomic analysis. While the alternatives to REH presented in Rethinking Expectations differ from the approach taken in the original Phelps volume, they are notable for returning to its major theme: understanding aggregate outcomes requires according expectations an autonomous role. In the introductory essay, Frydman and Phelps interpret the various efforts to reconstruct the field--some of which promise to chart its direction for decades to come. The contributors include Philippe Aghion, Sheila Dow, George W. Evans, Roger E. A. Farmer, Roman Frydman, Michael D. Goldberg, Roger Guesnerie, Seppo Honkapohja, Katarina Juselius, Enisse Kharroubi, Blake LeBaron, Edmund S. Phelps, John B. Taylor, Michael Woodford, and Gylfi Zoega.

Knowledge, Beliefs and Economics

Author : R. Arena
Publisher : Edward Elgar Publishing
ISBN 13 : 1847201539
Total Pages : 289 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (472 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis Knowledge, Beliefs and Economics by : R. Arena

Download or read book Knowledge, Beliefs and Economics written by R. Arena and published by Edward Elgar Publishing. This book was released on 2006-01-01 with total page 289 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The contributors to this book also suggest the need for a more integrated perspective on the meaning, as well as the role, of knowledge and beliefs in economics in the future. Possible lines of future research such as the extension of the concept of rationality in economics or the focus on cognitive processes in economic action are discussed.

The Rational Expectations Revolution

Author : Preston J. Miller
Publisher : MIT Press
ISBN 13 : 9780262631556
Total Pages : 534 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (315 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis The Rational Expectations Revolution by : Preston J. Miller

Download or read book The Rational Expectations Revolution written by Preston J. Miller and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 1994 with total page 534 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: These 21 readings describe the orgins and growth of the macroeconomic analysis known as "rational expectations". The readings trace the development of this approach from the late 1970s to the 1990s.

Macroeconomics at the Service of Public Policy

Author : Thomas J. Sargent
Publisher : OUP Oxford
ISBN 13 : 0191643912
Total Pages : 240 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (916 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis Macroeconomics at the Service of Public Policy by : Thomas J. Sargent

Download or read book Macroeconomics at the Service of Public Policy written by Thomas J. Sargent and published by OUP Oxford. This book was released on 2013-02-28 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume uses state of the art models from the frontier of macroeconomics to answer key questions about how the economy functions and how policy should be conducted. The contributions cover a wide range of issues in macroeconomics and macroeconomic policy. They combine high level mathematics with economic analysis, and highlight the need to update our mathematical toolbox in order to understand the increased complexity of the macroeconomic environment. The volume represents hard evidence of high research intensity in many fields of macroeconomics, and warns against interpreting the scope of macroeconomics too narrowly. The mainstream business cycle analysis, based on dynamic stochastic general equilibrium (DSGE) modelling of a particular type, has been criticised for its inability to predict or resolve the recent financial crisis. However, macroeconomic research on financial, information, and learning imperfections had not yet made their way into many of the pre-crisis DSGE models because practical econometric versions of those models were mainly designed to fit data periods that did not include financial crises. A major response to the limitations of those older DSGE models is an active research program to bring big financial shocks and various kinds of financial, learning, and labour market frictions into a new generation of DSGE models for guiding policy. The contributors to this book utilise models and modelling assumptions that go beyond particular modelling conventions. By using alternative yet plausible assumptions, they seek to enrich our knowledge and ability to explain macroeconomic phenomena. They contribute to expanding the frontier of macroeconomic knowledge in ways that will prove useful for macroeconomic policy.

Inflation Expectations

Author : Peter J. N. Sinclair
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1135179778
Total Pages : 402 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (351 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis Inflation Expectations by : Peter J. N. Sinclair

Download or read book Inflation Expectations written by Peter J. N. Sinclair and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2009-12-16 with total page 402 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Inflation is regarded by the many as a menace that damages business and can only make life worse for households. Keeping it low depends critically on ensuring that firms and workers expect it to be low. So expectations of inflation are a key influence on national economic welfare. This collection pulls together a galaxy of world experts (including Roy Batchelor, Richard Curtin and Staffan Linden) on inflation expectations to debate different aspects of the issues involved. The main focus of the volume is on likely inflation developments. A number of factors have led practitioners and academic observers of monetary policy to place increasing emphasis recently on inflation expectations. One is the spread of inflation targeting, invented in New Zealand over 15 years ago, but now encompassing many important economies including Brazil, Canada, Israel and Great Britain. Even more significantly, the European Central Bank, the Bank of Japan and the United States Federal Bank are the leading members of another group of monetary institutions all considering or implementing moves in the same direction. A second is the large reduction in actual inflation that has been observed in most countries over the past decade or so. These considerations underscore the critical – and largely underrecognized - importance of inflation expectations. They emphasize the importance of the issues, and the great need for a volume that offers a clear, systematic treatment of them. This book, under the steely editorship of Peter Sinclair, should prove very important for policy makers and monetary economists alike.

Uncertainty, Expectations, and Financial Instability

Author : Eric Barthalon
Publisher : Columbia University Press
ISBN 13 : 0231538308
Total Pages : 445 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (315 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis Uncertainty, Expectations, and Financial Instability by : Eric Barthalon

Download or read book Uncertainty, Expectations, and Financial Instability written by Eric Barthalon and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2014-11-18 with total page 445 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Eric Barthalon applies the neglected theory of psychological time and memory decay of Nobel Prize–winning economist Maurice Allais (1911–2010) to model investors' psychology in the present context of recurrent financial crises. Shaped by the behavior of the demand for money during episodes of hyperinflation, Allais's theory suggests economic agents perceive the flow of clocks' time and forget the past at a context-dependent pace: rapidly in the presence of persistent and accelerating inflation and slowly in the event of the opposite situation. Barthalon recasts Allais's work as a general theory of "expectations" under uncertainty, narrowing the gap between economic theory and investors' behavior. Barthalon extends Allais's theory to the field of financial instability, demonstrating its relevance to nominal interest rates in a variety of empirical scenarios and the positive nonlinear feedback that exists between asset price inflation and the demand for risky assets. Reviewing the works of the leading protagonists in the expectations controversy, Barthalon exposes the limitations of adaptive and rational expectations models and, by means of the perceived risk of loss, calls attention to the speculative bubbles that lacked the positive displacement discussed in Kindleberger's model of financial crises. He ultimately extrapolates Allaisian theory into a pragmatic approach to investor behavior and the natural instability of financial markets. He concludes with the policy implications for governments and regulators. Balanced and coherent, this book will be invaluable to researchers working in macreconomics, financial economics, behavioral finance, decision theory, and the history of economic thought.

General Equilibrium Analysis

Author : Pascal Bridel
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1136719822
Total Pages : 169 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (367 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis General Equilibrium Analysis by : Pascal Bridel

Download or read book General Equilibrium Analysis written by Pascal Bridel and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-03-01 with total page 169 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 2010 marks the hundredth anniversary of the death of Léon Walras, the brilliant originator and first formaliser of general equilibrium theory – one of the pillars of modern economic theory. In advancing much derided practical solutions Walras also displayed more concern for the problems of living in a second best world than is common in modern pure theories of the invisible hand, efficient market hypothesis, DSGE macroeconomics or the thinking of some contemporary free market admirers all based on general equilibrium theory. This book brings contributions from the likes of Kenneth Arrow, Alan Kirman, Richard Posner, Amartya Sen and Robert Solow to share their thoughts and reflections on the theoretical heritage of Léon Walras. Some authors reminisce on the part they played in the development of modern general economics theory; others reflect on the crucial part played by general equilibrium in the development of macroeconomics, microeconomics, growth theory, welfare economics and the theory of justice; others still complain about the wrong path economic theory took under the influence of post 1945 developments in general equilibrium theory.

Information and Learning in Markets

Author : Xavier Vives
Publisher : Princeton University Press
ISBN 13 : 140082950X
Total Pages : 422 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (8 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis Information and Learning in Markets by : Xavier Vives

Download or read book Information and Learning in Markets written by Xavier Vives and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2010-01-25 with total page 422 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The ways financial analysts, traders, and other specialists use information and learn from each other are of fundamental importance to understanding how markets work and prices are set. This graduate-level textbook analyzes how markets aggregate information and examines the impacts of specific market arrangements--or microstructure--on the aggregation process and overall performance of financial markets. Xavier Vives bridges the gap between the two primary views of markets--informational efficiency and herding--and uses a coherent game-theoretic framework to bring together the latest results from the rational expectations and herding literatures. Vives emphasizes the consequences of market interaction and social learning for informational and economic efficiency. He looks closely at information aggregation mechanisms, progressing from simple to complex environments: from static to dynamic models; from competitive to strategic agents; and from simple market strategies such as noncontingent orders or quantities to complex ones like price contingent orders or demand schedules. Vives finds that contending theories like informational efficiency and herding build on the same principles of Bayesian decision making and that "irrational" agents are not needed to explain herding behavior, booms, and crashes. As this book shows, the microstructure of a market is the crucial factor in the informational efficiency of prices. Provides the most complete analysis of the ways markets aggregate information Bridges the gap between the rational expectations and herding literatures Includes exercises with solutions Serves both as a graduate textbook and a resource for researchers, including financial analysts

Exchange Rate Determination and Optimal Economic Policy Under Various Exchange Rate Regimes

Author : Eelke de Jong
Publisher : Springer
ISBN 13 : 3642516688
Total Pages : 280 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (425 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis Exchange Rate Determination and Optimal Economic Policy Under Various Exchange Rate Regimes by : Eelke de Jong

Download or read book Exchange Rate Determination and Optimal Economic Policy Under Various Exchange Rate Regimes written by Eelke de Jong and published by Springer. This book was released on 2013-12-19 with total page 280 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 1.1 Some characteristics of the floating exchange rate system The flexible exchange rate system has functioned far less satisfactorily than many anticipated in 1973, when the major industrialized countries decided to let their currencies float. The dominant currencies' exchange rates have fluctuated more 1 than expected. These fluctuations concern both short-term movement- intraday fluctuations and movements during a week or a month - and long term changes that last for more than a year. Daily percentage changes of one percent are not unusual for the recent float (see MacDonald, 1988, p.8). However, the release of new information can give rise to much larger changes. For example in August 1987 "the dollar moved down 6 percent in two days based on the July trade figures" (Glynn, 1988, p. 36). For the period 1973-1985 MacDonald (1988, p.10) presents minimum and maximum monthly percentage exchange rate changes. These figures clearly illustrate the magnitude of the volatility and also show that the volatility has not diminished as the experience 2 with floating has increased. In addition to this volatility, exchange rates are also characterized by misalignment: "persistent departure of the exchange rate from its long-run equilibrium" (Williamson, 1983, p.l3). Although the measure of misalignment depends upon the exact definition of the exchange rate's long-run equilibrium, there is a widespread feeling that during the greater part of the 1970s the dollar was undervalued, whereas it was overvalued during the first half of the 1980s.

Innovation and Inequality

Author : Gilles Saint-Paul
Publisher : Princeton University Press
ISBN 13 : 140082477X
Total Pages : 206 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (8 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis Innovation and Inequality by : Gilles Saint-Paul

Download or read book Innovation and Inequality written by Gilles Saint-Paul and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2008-07-01 with total page 206 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Karl Marx predicted a world in which technical innovation would increasingly devalue and impoverish workers, but other economists thought the opposite, that it would lead to increased wages and living standards--and the economists were right. Yet in the last three decades, the market economy has been jeopardized by a worrying phenomenon: a rise in wage inequality that has left a substantial portion of the workforce worse off despite the continuing productivity growth enjoyed by the economy. Innovation and Inequality examines why. Studies have firmly established a link between this worrying trend and technical change, in particular the rise of new information technologies. In Innovation and Inequality, Gilles Saint-Paul provides a synthetic theoretical analysis of the most important mechanisms by which technical progress and innovation affect the distribution of income. He discusses the conditions under which skill-biased technical change may reduce the wages of the least skilled, and how improvements in information technology allow "superstars" to increase the scale of their activity at the expense of less talented workers. He shows how the structure of demand changes as the economy becomes wealthier, in ways that may potentially harm the poorest segments of the workforce and economy. An essential text for graduate students and an indispensable resource for researchers, Innovation and Inequality reveals how different categories of workers gain or lose from innovation, and how that gain or loss crucially depends on the nature of the innovation.

Reason-Oriented Marketing: A Generic Marketing Approach for Reasonable Products and Services

Author : Martin Masuch
Publisher : Diplomica Verlag
ISBN 13 : 3842882971
Total Pages : 81 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (428 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis Reason-Oriented Marketing: A Generic Marketing Approach for Reasonable Products and Services by : Martin Masuch

Download or read book Reason-Oriented Marketing: A Generic Marketing Approach for Reasonable Products and Services written by Martin Masuch and published by Diplomica Verlag. This book was released on 2012-07 with total page 81 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The modern economic world is characterized by a vast number of different customer requirements, products, and variations of products, as well as ideas, meanings, opinions, and arguments. Marketing activities are nowadays embedded in a complex world characterized by a multitude of interdependencies and interrelations between different stakeholders and interest groups. Hitherto, economic systems, and above all marketing strategies, strive to separate concerns in order to control the whole. The development of autonomous and stand-alone marketing concepts in the past reflects this paradigm. To cope with the global and networked conditions of the presence, suitable strategies have to be designed which are able to manage the requirements of transitional relationships. The combination of transverse reason and the open society as well as the conceptual transfer to the field of marketing leads to the concept of reason-oriented marketing. The generic character of reason-oriented marketing is enabled by methodical patterns which presents solutions to selected aspects of the marketing process. These patterns constitute generic blueprints for sample solutions that can be systematically arranged to design a strategic implementation of reasonable thinking within the marketing process. The patterns consider particularly the relationships and interactions between the interest groups of the macro environment, by integrating: -the perception and recognition of needs, interests, and requirements of the macro environment. -the association and combination of different rational aspects to form a holistic viewpoint on the totality of arguments and opinions. -the foresight in terms of future impacts and consequences of marketing decisions and instruments. -the principles of criticism and discourse to enable a dialog between the involved stakeholders and interest groups. -the ability to change perspectives systematically within the entirety of rational aspects. -the management of transitions between the core marketing processes and the interest groups of the macro environment. -the justice of decisions and procedures within the marketing process to ensure fairness and appreciation concerning different interests and arguments. -the cooperation and participation between the participants of the marketing process and the interest groups of the surrounding macro environment. The reason-oriented marketing approach enables the involved parties in the field of marketing to contribute their needs and interests to the marketing process and to develop reasonable concepts of products that consider the requirements of the stakeholders as well as the constraints and conditions of the macro environment. In fact, reason-oriented marketing is not designed to replace traditional marketing strategies and concepts, but rather to integrate them into a universal approach to marketing. The concept of reason-oriented marketing widens the perspective of marketing into greater awareness and responsibility for our future.

Public Investment, Growth and Fiscal Constraints

Author : Massimo Florio
Publisher : Edward Elgar Publishing
ISBN 13 : 9781849804776
Total Pages : 329 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (47 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis Public Investment, Growth and Fiscal Constraints by : Massimo Florio

Download or read book Public Investment, Growth and Fiscal Constraints written by Massimo Florio and published by Edward Elgar Publishing. This book was released on 2011-01-01 with total page 329 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book makes a unique contribution in advancing understanding of the fiscal condition and growth potential of the New Member States of the European Union. It provides new data, policy evaluation, and offers national and regional perspectives. The core research questions are the effect of public investment in the context of macroeconomic disequilibrium and how it is possible to finance capital accumulation in the present and future conditions of mounting public sector debt. The contributors reveal that there is now a convincing case for public investment as an essential driver of convergence and growth in Europe. However, a new international and inter-generational fiscal pact to frame a more optimistic view of the role of government is needed. This book explores how public investment matters for growth, how fiscal conditions may support investment, and the role EU regional policy can have in terms of structural change and investment needs. Public Investment, Growth and Fiscal Constraints provides new data analyses on the EU New Member States in Central and Eastern Europe making it an essential tool for academics, students and practitioners interested in public finance and European Economics. The structural and public finance issues in these former transition economies raised in this book will also strongly appeal to policymakers, officials and consultants. The book is based on an independent research project of the University of Milan, supported by the European Investment Bank.

General Equilibrium

Author : Frank Hahn
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1134433611
Total Pages : 398 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (344 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis General Equilibrium by : Frank Hahn

Download or read book General Equilibrium written by Frank Hahn and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2003-09-02 with total page 398 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In recent years certain leading figures in the world of economics have called the usefulness of general equilibrium theory into question. This superb new book brings together leading economic theorists with important contributions to the ongoing debate. General equilibrium theorists including Michio Morishima, Michael Magill and Martine Quinzii debate strengths, weaknesses and possible futures with leading thinkers such as Herb Gintis, Pierangelo Garegnani and Duncan Foley, who seek to explain the rejection of general equilibrium. Uniquely, none of the contributors portray general equilibrium theory as the perfect guide to market economies actual behaviour, but rather illustrate that there is insufficient acquaintance with existing alternatives and that general equilibrium theory is often used as an ideal 'benchmark'.