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This book analyzes the following four distinct, although not dissimilar, areas of social choice theory and welfare economics: nonstrategic choice, Harsanyi's aggregation theorems, distributional ethics and strategic choice. While for aggregation of individual ranking of social states, whether the persons behave strategically or non-strategically, the decision making takes place under complete certainty; in the Harsanyi framework uncertainty has a significant role in the decision making process. Another ingenious characteristic of the book is the discussion of ethical approaches to evaluation of inequality arising from unequal distributions of achievements in the different dimensions of human well-being. Given its wide coverage, combined with newly added materials, end-chapter problems and bibliographical notes, the book will be helpful material for students and researchers interested in this frontline area research. Its lucid exposition, along with non-technical and graphical illustration of the concepts, use of numerical examples, makes the book a useful text.
About the author
Satya R. Chakravarty is Professor of Economics at the Indian Statistical Institute, Calcutta. He is a renowned name in the field of studies of Game Theory and Social Choice and has published widely, both books and in reputed journals. He authored 'A Course on Cooperative Game Theory' with Manipushpak Mitra that was published by the Press in 2015.Manipushpak Mitra is Professor of Economics at the Indian Statistical Institute, Calcutta. His research interests are Game Theory, Individual and Collective Choice, Industrial Organization and Mechanism Design. He authored 'A Course on Cooperative Game Theory' with Satya Chakravarty that was published by the Press in 2015.Suresh Mutuswami is Professor of Economics in the School of Business at the University of Leicester. His research interests are Social Choice and Microeconomic Theory.
Summary
This book analyzes the following four distinct, although not dissimilar, areas of social choice theory and welfare economics: nonstrategic choice, Harsanyi's aggregation theorems, distributional ethics and strategic choice. While for aggregation of individual ranking of social states, whether the persons behave strategically or non-strategically, the decision making takes place under complete certainty; in the Harsanyi framework uncertainty has a significant role in the decision making process. Another ingenious characteristic of the book is the discussion of ethical approaches to evaluation of inequality arising from unequal distributions of achievements in the different dimensions of human well-being. Given its wide coverage, combined with newly added materials, end-chapter problems and bibliographical notes, the book will be helpful material for students and researchers interested in this frontline area research. Its lucid exposition, along with non-technical and graphical illustration of the concepts, use of numerical examples, makes the book a useful text.
Foreword
Ranking social states using individual rankings, strategic and non-strategic behaviors of individuals, ethical issues in distributional analysis.
