"Gary Becker once wrote a periodic column for Business Week, and, in the December 29, 1997 issue, his column was entitled "Why Every Married Couple Should Sign a Contract." Becker argues, roughly, that marriage, a complex contractual arrangement (subject to dissolution), should be fine-tuned to...

Traditional economics focuses on hypothetical markets in which prices alone can guide efficient allocation, with no need for central organization. Such models build from Adam Smith's famous concept of the invisible hand, which guides markets and renders regulation or interference largely...

Intro; Table of Contents; In Memoriam: Kenneth Joseph Arrow (1921-2017); Foreword, by Robert M. Solow; Preface; Random Thoughts on "Birth and Death," by Kenneth J. Arrow; Birth and Death: Arrow Lecture; 1. Economic Demography; 2. Utilitarian Ethics; 3. Ends and Means; 4. Synopsis; Part I: Foundations;...

In this short and accessible book, Amy Finkelstein winner of the 2012 John Bates Clark award tackles the tricky question of moral hazard, which is the tendency to take risks when the cost will be borne by others. Kenneth J. Arrow's seminal 1963 paper, Uncertainty and the Welfare Economics of...

Intro -- Table of Contents -- Preface -- 1. Introduction -- 2. (Near-)Substitutes, Prices, and Stability -- 3. Vickrey Auctions and Substitution -- 4. Deferred-Acceptance Auctions and Near-Substitutes -- 5. Conclusion -- Notes -- References -- Index

For all of their focus on asset prices, financial economists rarely ask if assets are priced ethically—that is, if their prices are compatible with the public good. Yet in a world facing major, possibly catastrophic problems—global warming, for instance, and growing inequality—it is now...

Creating a Learning Society explains how the countries of the world went from centuries of stagnation to the enormous increases in standards of living that have marked the last two hundred and fifty years: they have learned how to learn. Yet, as Stiglitz and Greenwald make clear, markets won't...