Originally published in 1984. Since the logic underlying economic theory can only be grasped fully by a thorough understanding of the mathematics, this book will be invaluable to economists wishing to understand vast areas of important research. It provides a basic introduction to the fundamental mathematical ideas of topology and calculus, and uses these to present modern singularity theory and recent results on the generic existence of isolated price equilibria in exchange economies.

In recent years, the usual optimization techniques, which have proved so useful in microeconomic theory, have been extended to incorporate more powerful topological and differential methods, and these methods have led to new results on the qualitative behavior of general economic and political systems. These developments have necessarily resulted in an increase in the degree of formalism in the publications in the academic journals. This formalism can often deter graduate students. The pro...

The politics of coalition -- the very heart of the political process in most European countries -- can be analyzed either theoretically or empirically. Multiparty Government aims to reconcile these approaches by placing the insights of contemporary theory within the real world context of coalition politics. Michael Laver and Norman Schofield do this by examining five basic themes: the identity and motivation of the actors in the coalition game; the eventual membership of the coalitions the...

Combining elements of economic reasoning and political science has proven to be very useful for understanding the broad variation in economic development around the world. In a sense research in this field goes back to the Scottish Enlightenment and Adam Smith’s original plan in his Theory of Moral Sentiments and Wealth of Nations. Leadership or Chaos by Norman Schofield and Maria Gallego is intended as an advanced, self-contained text in political economy dealing with social choice. The t...

This book presents latest research in the field of Political Economy, dealing with the integration of economics and politics and the way institutions affect social decisions. The focus is on innovative topics such as an institutional analysis based on case studies; the influence of activists on political decisions; new techniques for analyzing elections, involving game theory and empirical methods.

This book presents the latest research in the field of Political Economy, dealing with the integration of economics and politics and the way institutions affect social decisions. The authors are eminent scholars from the U.S., Canada, Britain, Spain, Italy, Mexico and the Philippines. Many of them have been influenced by Nobel laureate Douglass North, who pioneered the new institutional social sciences, or by William H. Riker who contributed to the field of positive political theory.

This book presents state-of-the-art research in political economy dealing with the decision making process under different political institutions. It focuses on the role that states and governments have on political outcomes and on the well-being of individuals, taking into account the differences that arise across autocracies and democracies and within political regimes. The research in this book is embedded with the political economy and social choice traditions and uses the rigorous fra...

Understanding the governance of nations is a key challenge in contemporaneous political economy. This book provides new advances and the latest research in the field of political economy, dealing with the study of institutions, governance, democracy and elections. The volume focuses on issues such as the role of institutions and political governance in society, the working of democracy and the electoral performance in several case studies. The chapters involve cutting edge research on many...

This book presents a set of original and innovative contributions on state, institutions and democracy in the field of political economy. Modern political economy has implied the interaction between politics and economics to understand political, electoral and public issues in different nations, and in this volume a group of leading political economists and political scientists from Europe, America and Asia provides theoretical advances, modelling and case studies on main topics in politic...