Information, Incentives and the Economics of Control (Volume 0) - Softcover

Archibald, G. C.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0521022797 ISBN 13: 9780521022798

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 2005

Synopsis

This book examines methods for controlling or guiding a sector of the economy that do not require all the apparatus of economic planning or rely on the vain hope of sufficiently "perfect" competition, but instead rely entirely on the self-interest of economic agents and voluntary contract. The methods involved require trial-and-error steps in real time, with the target adjusted as the results of each step become known. The author shows that the methods are equally applicable to industries that are wholly privately owned, wholly nationalized, mixed or labor-managed.

About this title

Book Description

This 1992 book examines alternative methods for achieving optimality without all the apparatus of economic planning (such as information retrieval, computation of solutions, and separate implementation systems), or a vain reliance on sufficiently 'perfect' competition. All rely entirely on the self-interest of economic agents and voluntary contract.

Review

"Archibald's book is timely: its contents throw light on several important current debates which are being argued within frameworks less appropriate than the one he sets out...this is a short, insightful, and timely book in a distinguished interventionist intellectual tradition in the area of public policy and public institutions." Geoffrey Heal, Journal of Economic Literature

Edition details

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 2005
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0521022797
• ISBN 13: 9780521022798
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 192