Books Published

Ed. Aghion, Frydman, Stiglitz, Woodford

Macroeconomics would not be what it is today without Edmund Phelps. This book assembles the field's leading figures to highlight the continuing influence of his ideas from the past four decades. Addressing the most important current debates in macroeconomic theory, it focuses on the rates at which new technologies arise and information about markets is dispersed, information imperfections, and the heterogeneity of beliefs as determinants of an economy's performance. The contributions, which represent a breadth of contemporary theoretical approaches, cover topics including the real effects of monetary disturbances, difficulties in expectations formation, structural factors in unemployment, and sources of technical progress. Based on an October 2001 conference honoring Phelps, this incomparable volume provides the most comprehensive and authoritative account in years of the present state of macroeconomics while also pointing to its future. (Princeton University Press)

 

 

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Edmund S. Phelps

In Enterprise and Inclusion in Italy, Edmund Phelps weaves together and applies to Italy his two principal interests of the past decade -the imperative of restoring initiative, enterprise and dynamism in a great many industrialized economies, most acutely needed in the eastern European economies amid the wreckage of their experiments with market socialism and communism, and the imperative of extending self-support and involvement in the business sector to the large number of marginalized workers, where his focus was on the high rates of dependency, idleness and crime among less educated in the United States. (Singer)

 

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Jean-Paul Fitoussi

Quel gouvernement économique pour l’Europe du XXIe siècle ? C’est à cette question que tentent de répondre Jean-Paul Fitoussi et Jérôme Créel en examinant le destin d’une des institutions les plus controversées de l’Union : la Banque centrale européenne. Au-delà des débats techniques se profile un enjeu politique majeur : ouvrir une voie nouvelle entre les défenseurs d’une Europe libérale qui vide la souveraineté économique de sa substance, et les partisans d’un retour aux États-Nations. À l’heure où l’Europe voit resurgir les tentations populistes, la démocratisation des institutions économiques de l’Union n’est pas seulement une réponse à la crise de confiance, c’est aussi la garantie d’une plus grande efficacité économique. Il s’agit pour les auteurs d’organiser la transition « d’un gouvernement par des règles à un gouvernement par des choix ». Leurs propositions constituent une contribution de premier plan au débat décisif sur la réforme des institutions européennes. (SEUIL)

 

 

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Joseph E. Stiglitz

When it was first published, this national bestseller quickly became a touchstone in the globalization debate. Renowned economist and Nobel Prize winner Joseph E. Stiglitz had a ringside seat for most of the major economic events of the last decade, including stints as chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers and chief economist at the World Bank. Particularly concerned with the plight of the developing nations, he became increasingly disillusioned as he saw the International Monetary Fund and other major institutions put the interests of Wall Street and the financial community ahead of the poorer nations.

Those seeking to understand why globalization has engendered the hostility of protesters in Seattle and Genoa will find the reasons here. While this book includes no simple formula on how to make globalization work, Stiglitz provides a reform agenda that will provoke debate for years to come. Rarely do we get such an insider's analysis of the major institutions of globalization as in this penetrating book. (W. W. Norton & Company)

 

 

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Joseph E. Stiglitz and Raaj K. Sah

In this book Nobel Laureate Joseph Stiglitz and co-author Raaj Sah address one of development's major issues. Most of today's countries face town versus country tensions of increasing severity, including such issues as who should pay how much in taxes, who should get how much in subsidies, and what forms the taxes and subsidies should take. This volume analyses these tensions and issues, taking into account the great diversity of institutions and economic environments observed in different developing countries. (Oxford University Press)

 

 

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Bruce Greenwald, Paul Sonkin, Michael Van Biema, and Judd Kahn

From the "guru to Wall Street's gurus" comes the fundamental techniques of value investing and their applications. Bruce Greenwald is one of the leading authorities on value investing. Some of the savviest people on Wall Street have taken his Columbia Business School course on the subject. Now this dynamic and popular teacher, with some colleagues, reveals the fundamental principles of value investing, the one investment technique that has proven itself consistently over time. After covering general techniques of value investing, the book proceeds to illustrate their applications through profiles of Warren Buffett, Michael Price, Mario Gabellio, and other successful value investors. A number of case studies highlight the techniques in practice. (Wiley) 

 

 

 

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Bruce Greenwald and Judd Kahn

Since 1980, Michael Porter's classic Competitive Strategy has provided the methodology that most big companies use for strategic analysis. But now, distinguished Columbia Business School professor Bruce Greenwald offers a bold new theory of competition - a theory that is far simpler than Porter's and much easier for strategic planners to apply in the real world. Porter identified a complex five-force model for studying competition in any market. But Greenwald argues that there is only one essential factor in determining competitive advantages: how easy it is for competitors to enter or expand in a given market. If a company can erect strong barriers to entry - through customer captivity, lower production costs, or economies of scale - it can manage these advantages, anticipate competitors' moves, or achieve stability through bargaining and cooperation. Greenwald draws on game theory to explain what you should do if barriers to entry are strong, weak, or nonexistent. He covers a wide range of examples, from retail to telecommunications to auction houses. And his lessons can be applied whether your business is dominated by a single huge player, a handful of roughly equal players, or no one at all. (Portfolio Trade)

 

 

 

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Giovanni Dosi, Richard R. Nelson and Sidney G. Winter

In this book, the editors and a team of distinguished international contributors analyse the nature of organizational capabilities--how organizations do things, use their knowledge base, and diffuse that knowledge in a competitive environment. (Oxford University Press)

 

 

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Jean-Paul Fitoussi

Pour Jean-Paul Fitoussi, président de l'OFCE (Observatoire français des conjonctures économiques), le débat s'est interdit de lui-même parce qu'il a été mal posé. Si tout le monde, ou presque, est d'accord sur les objectifs (croissance, stabilité monétaire, construction de l'Europe), le dogmatisme ambiant a imposé l'idée qu'il n'existe qu'un seul moyen d'y parvenir.

Or, dit l'auteur, la politique de désinflation compétitive à laquelle la France s'est accrochée depuis le début des années 80 n'est ni satisfaisante ni suffisante. Toute politique unidimensionnelle est vouée à l'échec. Depuis plus de dix ans, on ne se préoccupe que de l'inflation, et la crédibilité monétaire est devenue une obsession.
Résultat, on a reculé sur tous les fronts: la croissance est médiocre, le chômage s'est aggravé, et l'échéance de la monnaie unique s'est plutôt éloignée à cause du gonflement des déficits publics. La recherche systématique de la vertu peut se révéler contre-productive, résume Jean-Paul Fitoussi.

L'erreur n'est pas seulement française: l'Europe s'est trompée de priorité, plaçant les préoccupations financières avant le niveau de vie et l'emploi. Elle s'est donc bâtie sous le signe de l'argent cher, ce qui a des conséquences sociales graves: les projets d'avenir sont plus coûteux et le futur est déprécié; les jeunes générations sont défavorisées au profit des rentiers; chacun est incité à se replier sur ses avantages acquis. Finalement, c'est toute la cohésion sociale qui est mise en péril.
Le salut? Il se trouve précisément dans l'accélération de l'intégration européenne, qui atténuerait la contrainte monétaire. A défaut, la France devrait prendre l'initiative d'une baisse coordonnée des taux d'intérêt en Europe. La politique économique, plaide l'auteur, ne consiste pas à subir les fatalités. Un livre foisonnant, intelligent, et résolument optimiste. (SEUIL)

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Richard Nelson

Technological advance is the key driving force behind economic growth, argues Richard Nelson. Investments in physical and human capital contribute to growth largely as handmaidens to technological advance. Technological advance needs to be understood as an evolutionary process, depending much more on ex post selection and learning than on ex ante calculation. That is why it proceeds much more rapidly under conditions of competition than under monopoly or oligopoly.

Nelson also argues that an adequate theory of economic growth must incorporate institutional change explicitly. Drawing on a deep knowledge of economic and technological history as well as the tools of economic analysis, Nelson exposes the intimate connections among government policies, science-based universities, and the growth of technology. He compares national innovation systems, and explores both the rise of the United States as the world's premier technological power during the first two-thirds of the twentieth century and the diminishing of that lead as other countries have largely caught up.

Lucid, wide-ranging, and accessible, the book examines the secrets of economic growth and why the U.S. economy has been anemic since the early 1970s. (Harvard University Press)

 

 

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