The Microeconomics of Public Policy Analysis / / Lee S. Friedman.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter Princeton University Press eBook-Package Backlist 2000-2013
• VerfasserIn: Friedman, Lee S.,
• Place / Publishing House: Princeton, NJ : : Princeton University Press, , [2017]; ©2002
• Year of Publication: 2017
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (784 p.) :; 142 line illus.

This book shows, from start to finish, how microeconomics can and should be used in the analysis of public policy problems. It is an exciting new way to learn microeconomics, motivated by its application to important, real-world issues. Lee Friedman's modern replacement for his influential 1984 work not only brings the issues addressed into the present but develops all intermediate microeconomic theory to make this book accessible to a much wider audience. Friedman offers the microeconomic tools necessary to understand policy analysis of a wide range of matters of public concern--including the recent California electricity crisis, welfare reform, public school finance, global warming, health insurance, day care, tax policies, college loans, and mass transit pricing. These issues are scrutinized through microeconomic models that identify policy strengths, weaknesses, and ideas for improvements. Each chapter begins with explanations of several fundamental microeconomic principles and then develops models that use and probe them in analyzing specific public policies. The book has two primary and complementary goals. One is to develop skills of economic policy analysis: to design, predict the effects of, and evaluate public policies. The other is to develop a deep understanding of microeconomics as an analytic tool for application--its strengths and extensions into such advanced techniques as general equilibrium models and pricing methods for natural monopolies and its weaknesses, such as behavioral inconsistencies with utility-maximization models and its limits in comparing institutional alternatives. The result is an invaluable professional and academic reference, one whose clear explanation of principles and analytic techniques, and wealth of constructive applications, will ensure it a prominent place not only on the bookshelves but also on the desks of students and professionals alike.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- CONTENTS -- ALTERNATIVE COURSE DESIGNS -- PREFACE -- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS -- PART ONE. MICROECONOMIC MODELS FOR PUBLIC POLICY ANALYSIS -- CHAPTER ONE. INTRODUCTION TO MICROECONOMIC POLICY ANALYSIS -- CHAPTER TWO. AN INTRODUCTION TO MODELING: DEMAND, SUPPLY, AND BENEFIT-COST REASONING -- CHAPTER THREE. UTILITY MAXIMIZATION, EFFICIENCY, AND EQUITY -- PART TWO. USING MODELS OF INDIVIDUAL CHOICE-MAKING IN POLICY ANALYSIS -- CHAPTER FOUR. THE SPECIFICATION OF INDIVIDUAL CHOICE MODELS FOR THE ANALYSIS OF WELFARE PROGRAMS -- CHAPTER FIVE. THE ANALYSIS OF EQUITY STANDARDS: AN INTERGOVERNMENTAL GRANT APPLICATION -- CHAPTER SIX. THE COMPENSATION PRINCIPLE OF BENEFIT-COST REASONING: BENEFIT MEASURES AND MARKET DEMANDS -- CHAPTER SEVEN. UNCERTAINTY AND PUBLIC POLICY -- CHAPTER EIGHT. ALLOCATION OVER TIME AND INDEXATION -- PART THREE. POLICY ASPECTS OF PRODUCTION AND SUPPLY DECISIONS -- CHAPTER NINE. THE COST SIDE OF POLICY ANALYSIS: TECHNICAL LIMITS, PRODUCTIVE POSSIBILITIES, AND COST CONCEPTS -- CHAPTER TEN. PRIVATE PROFIT-MAKING ORGANIZATIONS: OBJECTIVES, CAPABILITIES, AND POLICY IMPLICATIONS -- CHAPTER ELEVEN. PUBLIC AND NONPROFIT ORGANIZATIONS: OBJECTIVES, CAPABILITIES, AND POLICY IMPLICATIONS -- PART FOUR. COMPETITIVE MARKETS AND PUBLIC POLICY INTERVENTIONS -- CHAPTER TWELVE: EFFICIENCY, DISTRIBUTION, AND GENERAL COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS: CONSEQUENCES OF TAXATION -- CHAPTER THIRTEEN. THE CONTROL OF PRICES TO ACHIEVE EQUITY IN SPECIFIC MARKETS -- CHAPTER FOURTEEN. DISTRIBUTIONAL CONTROL WITH RATIONS AND VOUCHERS -- PART FIVE. SOURCES OF MARKET FAILURE AND INSTITUTIONAL CHOICE -- CHAPTER FIFTEEN. ALLOCATIVE DIFFICULTIES IN MARKETS AND GOVERNMENTS -- CHAPTER SIXTEEN. THE PROBLEM OF PUBLIC GOODS -- CHAPTER SEVENTEEN. EXTERNALITIES AND POLICIES TO INTERNALIZE THEM -- CHAPTER EIGHTEEN. INDUSTRY REGULATION -- CHAPTER NINETEEN. POLICY PROBLEMS OF ALLOCATING RESOURCES OVER TIME -- CHAPTER TWENTY. IMPERFECT INFORMATION AND INSTITUTIONAL CHOICES -- AUTHOR INDEX -- SUBJECT INDEX