Coen Teulings

This graduate textbook explores key microeconomic concepts to provide insight into financial markets, comparative economic development, and political institutions. Theoretical concepts are accompanied by historical and real life case studies to highlight the evolution of institutions and the solutions to market failures. General mathematical models are presented in a practical and clear manner and can be applied to problem solving scenarios. Key dilemmas relating to monopolies, institutional design, economic policy, power in society, and the rule of law are also discussed. This multidisciplinary book aims to provide a real world understanding of microeconomics and game theory, enabling readers to review policy and institutional requirements. It will be relevant to students and policymakers interested in institutional economics, the political economy, financial economics, and economic governance.

After a long period of suburbanization, cities have been in vogue again since the 1980s. But why are people prepared to spend far more money on a small house in the city centre than on a large house in the countryside - and why doesn't this apply to all cities? The authors of this book argue that the appeal of the city in the 21st century is not only determined by the production side of the economy, but also by the consumption side: its array of shops, cultural activities and, for example, an historic city center. All these factors translate into a huge disparity in land prices as well as different wages for urban and rural citizens. This study maps out these variations, with an economic approach to spatial planning and an emphasis on land rents as a basis for cost-benefit analysis. The use of land prices as a reflection of the appreciation for urban amenities is an ideal measurement tool in the cost-benefit analyses for local investments and spatial planning policies, and sheds new light on the organization of public administration. This accessible book will be of interest to geographers, economists and social scientists, as well as policymakers involved in urban planning, seeking an in-depth understanding of land prices and the increasing importance of cities in the 21st century.

The authors present important research showing that corporatist institutions generate smaller non-competitive wage differentials than a decentralized system. A theoretical explanation is developed based on the hold-up problem in investments, arguing that corporatist institutions solve the problem by specifying ex ante nominal contracts that remove the necessity of ex post bargaining over the surplus of an employment relationship. The authors also argue that such institutions allow sufficient flexibility to accommodate aggregate shocks, even more so than decentralized systems. Corporatism or Competition? is the first book to bring together the mass of research on comparative wage differences, wage movements and employment behaviour in different countries with different institutional frameworks, in an organized and coherent fashion.

The authors present important new research showing that corporatist institutions generate smaller non-competitive wage differentials than a decentralised system. A theoretical explanation is developed based on the hold-up problem in investments, arguing that corporatist institutions solve the problem by specifying ex ante nominal contracts that remove the necessity of ex post bargaining over the surplus of an employment relationship. The authors also argue that such institutions allow sufficient flexibility to accommodate aggregate shocks, even more so than decentralised systems. Corporatism or Competition? is the first book to bring together the mass of research on comparative wage differences, wage movements and employment behaviour in different countries with different institutional frameworks, in an organised and coherent fashion.