Search results for ""Author Robert B. Ekelund Jr""

This three volume set offers an extensive collection of the most significant articles which investigate the foundations of past and current thinking on regulatory economics. The papers cover more than 150 years of contributions to the subject and range from the earliest discussions of controlled markets to some very recent developments. The emphasis of the volumes is on historical, conceptual and empirical studies of regulation: Volume I is devoted to the origins and development of regulatory theory and practice; Volume II examines contemporary theories of regulation; and Volume III addresses issues related to regulation and deregulation and offers some empirical studies of the effects of regulation in past and present markets.In addition to a comprehensive guide to the articles included in his selection, the editor has also written a scholarly introduction, which provides the reader with a short history of the development of ideas on regulatory economics and the establishment of institutions connected with regulation.

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Sir Edwin Chadwick (1800-1890) is hardly a household name among economists, although he is a well-known hero to sanitation engineers and utilitarian social reformers. His brilliant and cunning ideas relating to contemporary economic policy are illuminated for the first time in this pioneering study. The authors detail Chadwick's sophisticated conceptions of moral hazard, common pool problems, asymmetric information, and theory of competition, all of which differ starkly from those promulgated by Adam Smith and other classical economists. Also examined are Chadwick's views on government versus market role in dealing with problems created by natural monopoly, and whether some or all market problems justify government regulation or alterations of property rights. The authors investigate Chadwick's utilitarian approach to labor, business cycles, and economic growth, contrasting his modern view with those of his classical economic contemporaries. Chadwick's enormous output and cutting-edge methods undoubtedly establish him as an original and trenchant thinker in economic matters as well as a prophetic voice on contemporary issues in economics. This unique look at his less familiar research will interest academic regulatory economists, sociologists, students and scholars of law and economics, and all those interested in the fundamentals of social reform.

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