How do economists decide what questions to address and how to choose their theories? How do they tackle the problems of the economic system and give advice on public policy? With these broad questions, Nobel laureate R. H. Coase, widely recognized for his seminal work on transaction costs, reflects on some of the most fundamental concerns of economists over the past two centuries.

In fifteen essays, Coase evaluates the contributions of a number of outstanding figures, including Adam Smith, Alfred Marshall, Arnold Plant, Duncan Black, and George Stigler, as well as economists at the London School of Economics in the 1930s.

Ronald H. Coase was awarded the Nobel Prize in Economic Science in 1991.

Interest in intellectual property and other institutions that promote innovation exploded during the 1990s. Innovation and Incentivesprovides a clear and wide-ranging introduction to the economics of innovation, suitable for teaching at both the advanced undergraduate and graduate levels. It will also be useful to legal and economics professionals. Written by an expert on intellectual property and industrial organization, the book achieves a balanced mix of institutional details, examples, and theory. Analytical, empirical, or institutional factors can be given different emphases at different levels of study.

Innovation and Incentivespresents the historical, legal, and institutional contexts in which innovation takes place. After a historical overview of the institutions that support innovation, ranging from ancient history through today's government funding and hybrid institutions, the book discusses knowledge as a public good, the economic design of intellectual property, different models of cumulative innovation, the relation of competition to licensing and joint ventures, patent and copyright enforcement and litigation, private/public funding relationships, patent values and the return on R&D investment, intellectual property issues arising from direct and indirect network externalities, and globalization. The text presents technical and abstract analysis and at the same time sheds light on current controversies and policy-relevant topics, including the difficulty of enforcing copyright in the digital age and international protection of intellectual property.

This text combines mathematical economics with microeconomic theory and can be required or recommended as part of a course in graduate microeconomic theory, advanced undergraduate or graduate-level mathematical economics, or any advanced topics course. It also has reference value for international, library, professional and reference markets. This revision addresses significant new topics—the theory of contracts and markets with imperfect information—that have recently become prominent in the microeconomics literature.

This is a collection of 43 essays about the economics and management of information technology markets. The first part of the book focuses on events, notable birth dates and longstanding trends. The unifying theme revolves around the role of human economic behavior in the face of uncertainty and confusion. The contributors' intent is to explain, educate and entertain — to go beyond the obvious.

The next part contains writing about the Internet. It discusses the development of the online commercial world, and analyzes the macroeconomic side of the investment boom and bust related to Internet activities. It also focuses on the measurement of economic activity in the digital economy.

In addition, the book deals with how computers get used in organizations and discusses the Microsoft antitrust case. Finally, there are two long essays about economic constraints on strategic behavior in markets where standards and platforms matter.

The jargon of economics and finance contains numerous colorful terms for market-asset prices at odds with any reasonable economic explanation. Examples include "bubble,""tulipmania,""chain letter,""Ponzi scheme,""panic,""crash,""herding," and "irrational exuberance." Although such a term suggests that an event is inexplicably crowd-driven, what it really means, claims Peter Garber, is that we have grasped a near-empty explanation rather than expend the effort to understand the event.

In this book Garber offers market-fundamental explanations for the three most famous bubbles: the Dutch Tulipmania (1634-1637), the Mississippi Bubble (1719-1720), and the closely connected South Sea Bubble (1720). He focuses most closely on the Tulipmania because it is the event that most modern observers view as clearly crazy. Comparing the pattern of price declines for initially rare eighteenth-century bulbs to that of seventeenth-century bulbs, he concludes that the extremely high prices for rare bulbs and their rapid decline reflects normal pricing behavior. In the cases of the Mississippi and South Sea Bubbles, he describes the asset markets and financial manipulations involved in these episodes and casts them as market fundamentals.

Professor David S. Landes takes a historic approach to the analysis of the distribution of wealth in this landmark study of world economics. Landes argues that the key to today's disparity between the rich and poor nations of the world stems directly from the industrial revolution, in which some countries made the leap to industrialization and became fabulously rich, while other countries failed to adapt and remained poor. Why some countries were able to industrialize and others weren't has been the subject of much heated debate over the decades; climate, natural resources, and geography have all been put forward as explanations—and are all brushed aside by Landes in favor of his own controversial theory: that the ability to effect an industrial revolution is dependent on certain cultural traits, without which industrialization is impossible to sustain. Landes contrasts the characteristics of successfully industrialized nations—work, thrift, honesty, patience, and tenacity—with those of nonindustrial countries, arguing that until these values are internalized by all nations, the gulf between the rich and poor will continue to grow.

This book is a tool for the theoretical and numerical investigation of nonlinear dynamical systems modelled by means of ordinary differential and difference equations. Special attention is given to the analysis and understanding of chaotic dynamics. The work is divided into two parts: a book, comprising a theoretical overview of the subject matter and a number of applications; and an integrated software program (called DMC) together with its manual.

Although the emphasis is laid on dynamical systems arising from economic motivation, and the applications are derived from these systems, both the text and the program will also be of use to researchers in other fields of study. While it is not intended to be a textbook in mathematics, the mathematical language is of a precision comparable to that used in analogous books for applied scientists. The book first discusses the fundamental concepts and methods of chaos theory, and then applies these theoretical results and the facilities provided by the companion software program to models suggested by economic problems.

The software program accompanying this book is available on disk in DOS and Macintosh formats. These can ba ordered using the order form contained in the book.

This is a "facts ma'am, nothing but the facts" examination of how Microsoft works, both internally, and in the marketplace. Unlike the raft of gossipy Bill-bios or sardonic and shrill pro- or anti-screeds, this book is focused clearly (if sometimes ploddingly) on one central question: the relationship between business strategies and software development. And, as Microsoft becomes increasingly focused on the Internet, it is essential reading not just for software companies, but for all Internet companies as well. Highly Recommended.

A timeless classic in how complex information should be presented graphically. The Strunk & White of visual design. Should occupy a place of honor—within arm's reach—of everyone attempting to understand or depict numerical data graphically. The design of the book is an exemplar of the principles it espouses: elegant typography and layout, and seamless integration of lucid text and perfectly chosen graphical examples. Very Highly Recommended.