Explorations in pragmatic economics : selected papers of George A. Akerlof (and co-authors)

Akerlof illustrates how his 'modern', Nobel Prize-winning methodology of using 'tailor-made' economic models to solve problems differs from the standard, benchmark, all-encompassing general-equilibrium-perfect competition-based methodology. Market For Lemons : Quality Uncertainty And The Market Mechanism ; Economics Of Caste And Of The Rat Race And Other Woeful Tales ; Discriminatory, Status-based Wages Among Tradition-oriented, Stochastically Trading Coconut Producers / George A. Akerlof -- Economics And Identity / George A. Akerlof And Rachel E. Kranton -- Economics Of Tagging As Applied To The Optimal Income Tax, Welfare Programs, And Manpower Planning / George A. Akerlof -- Analysis Of Out-of-wedlock Childbearing In The United States / George A. Akerlof, Janet L. Yellen And Michael L. Katz -- Men Without Children / George A. Akerlof -- Economic Consequences Of Cognitive Dissonance / George A. Akerlof And William T. Dickens -- Economics Of Illusion ; Procrastination And Obedience / George A. Akerlof -- Looting : The Economic Underworld Of Bankruptcy For Profit / George A. Akerlof And Paul M. Romer -- Relative Wages And The Rate Of Inflation ; Microeconomic Foundations Of A Flow Of Funds Theory Of The Demand For Money ; Irving Fisher On His Head : The Consequences Of Constant Threshold-target Monitoring Of Money Holdings ; Jobs As Dam Sites ; Labor Contracts As Partial Gift Exchange / George A. Akerlof -- Fair Wage-effort Hypothesis And Unemployment ; Near-rational Model Of The Business Cycle, With Wage And Price Inertia / George A. Akerlof And Janet L. Yellen -- Macroeconomics Of Low Inflation / George A. Akerlof, William T. Dickens And George L. Perry -- Behavioral Macroeconomics And Macroeconomic Behavior / George A. Akerlof. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. For twenty years since the publication of his seminal paper'The Market for'Lemons'', George A. Akerlof's work has changed the way we see economics, and the economics of information in particular. In abandoning the perfect-competition benchmarks of classical economics, the pragmatic modern economics championed by Akerlof has provided deep insights into markets, identity, discrimination, motivation, and work, and into behavioural economics in general. This collection of Akerlof's most important papers provide both an introduction to Akerlof's work and a grounding in modern economics. Divided into two broad areas, micro- and macroeconomics, they cover the economics of information; the theory of unemployment; macroeconomic equilibria; the demand for money; psychology and economics; and the nature of discrimination and other social issues. The collection closes with Akerlof's 2001 Nobel Lecture, in which he argues that it is imperative that macroeconomics be considered inherently behavioural. Akerlof's substantial introduction to this volume tells the story of these papers, connecting them and showing how his later work has built upon his early contributions, in many cases improving their arguments, their subtlety, and their usefulness today. For twenty years since the publication of his seminal paper "The Market for 'Lemons'", George A. Akerlof's work has changed the way we see economics. This collection of Akerlof's most important papers provide both an introduction to Akerlof's work and a grounding in modern economics. Divided into two broad areas, micro- and macroeconomics, they cover the economics of information; the theory of unemployment; macroeconomic equilibria; the demand for money; psychology and economics; and the nature of discrimination and other social issues. Akerlof's substantial introduction to this volume tells the story of these papers, connecting them and showing how his later work has built upon his early contributions, in many cases improving their arguments, their subtlety, and their usefulness today. This collection of Akerlof's most important papers provide both an introduction to his work and a grounding in modern economics. Divided into two broad areas, micro- and macroeconomics, they cover the economics of information; the theory of unemployment; macroeconomic equilibria; the demand for money; psychology and economics; and the nature of discrimination and other social issues. The collection closes with Akerlof's 2001 Nobel Lecture, in which he arguesthat it is imperative that macroeconomics be considered inherently behavioral A valuable collection of papers illustrating Akerlof's 'modern', Nobel Prize-winning methodology at work. This ovlume covers the economics of information, the theory of unemployment, the demand for money, psychology and economics, and the nature of discrimination