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The book uses distance functions, a generalization of the more familiar production function, as the theoretical and empirical tools to construct Lerner indexes of market power in both the input and output markets. The use of distance functions enables us to explicitly account for the effects of firm inefficiency and price markups in the evaluation of market power. The book focusses on the theory and provides a menu of applications to construct measures of firm efficiency and market power in the financial and public sectors.

Quantile Methods for Stochastic Frontier Analysis seeks to merge two seemingly disparate econometric fields, quantile estimation and stochastic frontier analysis (SFA). Why might these two fields be viewed as disparate? Quantiles exist on a continuum of the distribution; the frontier is a fixed object of it. As will be seen, these two approaches can, when used properly, be merged to provide a unified approach to studying a stochastic boundary. Sections 1 to 5 present the current state of affairs. Section 1 details the very close link between the regression function and the conditional quantile function, in order to show that the quantile relation is not some disconnected statistical aspect that lives independently of our regression specification. This section also shows what the quantile approach and the Q-estimator actually do, and we contrast this with what SFA models want to do, using also a simulated example. Section 2 presents the main characteristics and properties of the linear Q-estimator when the error term is independent of the regressors, as a necessary preparation to move to Section 3, where the authors show how some of these properties are fundamentally incompatible with the goals and purposes of SFA. Section 4 discusses recent advances that properly construct the deterministic frontier. Section 5 moves away from quantile regression and presents likelihood-based approaches that use density functions that include as one of their parameters the probability of the zero-quantile of their distributions. Sections 6 to 9 present a new estimator, but also metrics and insights that allow to fruitfully use the quantile approach in SFA. Section 6 shows how one can use the Qestimator together with additional assumptions in order to provide conceptually valid and useful estimation and inference results in SFMs. Section 7 presents quantile-dependent measures of efficiency both at the sample level, and at the individual level, but also how the conditional quantiles of the distribution of inefficiency can be used to offer a picture of how individual efficiency scores are distributed around a chosen quantile of the efficiency distribution. Section 8 proves a fundamental result: that positive and high values of the composite error term of production SFA models, are expected to co-exist with low inefficiency, in a concrete probabilistic sense. Section 9 examines the case of dependence between the error term and the regressors or other covariates. Section 10 provides an empirical illustration that showcases the approach of the four previous Sections, and functions as a guide for detailed applied studies. Section 11 includes a list of the various open issues as well as ideas and directions for future research, while Section 12 offers a short summary and conclusions.

This book develops the theory of productivity measurement using the empirical index number approach. The theory uses multiplicative indices and additive indicators as measurement tools, instead of relying on the usual neo-classical assumptions, such as the existence of a production function characterized by constant returns to scale, optimizing behavior of the economic agents, and perfect foresight. The theory can be applied to all the common levels of aggregation (micro, meso, and macro), and half of the book is devoted to accounting for the links existing between the various levels. Basic insights from National Accounts are thereby used. The final chapter is devoted to the decomposition of productivity change into the contributions of efficiency change, technological change, scale effects, and input or output mix effects. Applications on real-life data demonstrate the empirical feasibility of the theory. The book is directed to a variety of overlapping audiences: statisticians involved in measuring productivity change; economists interested in growth accounting; researchers relating macro-economic productivity change to its industrial sources; enterprise micro-data researchers; and business analysts interested in performance measurement.

Grateful acknowledgement is made to CICYT (Comision Intenninisterial de Ciencia y Tecnoiogia), National Plan R+D, Projects N-TXT96-2467 and N­ TXT98-1453 for its financial support. This text presents the economic theories on Utility and Production. In addition, such theories are used to explain the real problems of consumers and firms and several studies carried out by the author are displayed. Some collaboration by other professors of Economics is mentioned in the corresponding footnotes. The responsibility for errors and omissions, however, rests entirely upon tbe author. In chapters 1 and 4 of the book try to present the theory of Utility and Production. Chapter 3 presents new functional forms and two empirical applications, on demand functions and systems. In chapters 2 and 5, the main theorems and properties presented in chapters 1 and 4 are applied. Chapter 6 presents new functional forms and two empirical applications, on production and cost functions respectively.

This volume examines the theory of monetary circulation and applies it to several modern issues including unemployment, inflation, distribution and economic policies. It will provide a valuable contribution to the field of monetary economics, and in particular, its development of non-neoclassical approaches to monetary economics.

The second edition of this book has been written for the same audience as the first edition. It is designed to be a'first port of call'for people wishing to study efficiency and productivity analysis. The book provides an accessible introduction to the four principal methods involved: econometric estimation of average response models; index numbers; data envelopment analysis (DEA); and stochastic firontier analysis (SFA). For each method, we provide a detailed introduction to the basic concepts, give some simple numerical examples, discuss some of the more important extensions to the basic methods, and provide references for further reading. In addition, we provide a number of detailed empirical applications using real-world data. The book can be used as a textbook or as a reference text. As a textbook, it probably contains too much material to cover in a single semester, so most instructors will want to design a course around a subset of chapters. For example, Chapter 2 is devoted to a review of production economics and could probably be skipped in a course for graduate economics majors. However, it should prove useful to undergraduate students and those doing a major in another field, such as business management or health studies.

Value and the World Economy Today brings together a diverse group of globally renowned scholars of international political economy and critical economics to examine the relevance of value theory for understanding the world economy today. The book is unique in the way that it connects literatures that have for the most part developed in isolation from each other and therefore brings questions of theory to bear directly upon the problems of analyzing current global trends and formulating responses to them.

This book presents the most significant theoretical articles by Bertram Schefold to illuminate the development and the present state of modern classical theory. It assembles twenty heavily discussed papers on joint production and fixed capital, choice of technique and technical progress, composition of output and the relation between classical, neoclassical and keynesian economics. There is a broad new introduction. The chapter on the critique of intertemporal general equilibrium is novel and represents an original theoretical advance.