|
Competition: The Birth of a New Science | 
| Author: James Case
Publisher: Hill and Wang
Category: Book
List Price: $16.00
Buy New: $7.95
You Save: $8.05 (50%)
New (31) Used (13) from $3.58
Avg. Customer Rating:  2 reviews
Sales Rank: 569461
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 368
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.7
Dimensions (in): 8.1 x 5.4 x 1.1
ISBN: 0809035782
Dewey Decimal Number: 519
EAN: 9780809035786
ASIN: 0809035782
Publication Date: June 24, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: New book, never read.
|
| Also Available In:
|
| Similar Items:
|
| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
What do chess-playing computer programs, biological evolution, competitive sports, gambling, alternative voting systems, public auctions, corporate globalization, and class warfare have in common? All are manifestations of a new paradigm in scientific thinking, one that the author calls “the emerging science of competition.” Drawing in part on the pioneering work of mathematicians such as John von Neumann, John Nash (of A Beautiful Mind fame), and Robert Axelrod, James Case explores the common game-theoretical strands that tie these seemingly unrelated fields together, showing how each can be better understood in the shared light of the others. Not since James Gleick’s bestselling book Chaos brought widespread public attention to the new sciences of chaos and complexity has a general-interest science book served such an eye-opening purpose. Competition will appeal to a wide range of readers, from policy wonks and futurologists to former jocks and other ordinary citizens seeking to make sense of a host of novel—and frequently controversial—issues.
|
| Customer Reviews:
 Nice discussion but not sufficiently compelling December 4, 2007
6 out of 9 found this review helpful
Interesting empirical findings and theoretical arguments but not compelling enough to revolutionize microeconomic theory, offering a useful supplement to mainstream economic theories, pointing out the well-known limitations of competition in particular and rational-actor models in economics in general. It does a fine job pointing out anamolous distortions in various market outcomes but not in explaining them well. The book carries scant predictive weight and offers either ambivalent or erroneous policy prescriptions, leaving many more questions unanswered than did the neoclassical paradigm. It did not actually change my mind on issues. For example, I supported free trade prior to reading this book and still support free trade after reading it, and the existing serious research on this topic confirms that the net impact of free trade for the peoples of nations is positive and beneficial, even though there are "losers" who will be worst off - but excessive protectionist support to the "losers" is inefficient, very costly, and ultimately futile. Still, competition can produce perverse outcomes: for instance, although deregulation has been more beneficial than harmful (e.g lower prices, increased access to air travel to more people), the greater competition it has generally helped to foment has led to tighter markets in which shocks to production costs (e.g. rising fuel costs) cannot be easily passed onto air-travel consumers, so increased production costs have to be paid for through other means, such as reduced amenities (e.g. meals, leg-room) for lower-price consumers, longer wait times in ticket lines, baggage delays, increased congestion, etc. - the problems air-traveling folks have been recently complaining about. In the end, the book reluctantly understands that the benefits from competition (and I would say rational-actor modeling of mainstream economics) exceed its costs.
 Very interesting ... opened my eyes October 18, 2007
5 out of 7 found this review helpful
I happened to pick up this book recently since it seemed to be at the junction between applied mathematics and economics. The author did not disappoint. He explores the world of economics through game theory and goes on to show how the current economic thinking has some serious flaws. It was very enjoyable and really opened my eyes to many common economic errors. For instance, conventional thinking is that when there are multiple vendors for a given product one has a much better chance of getting a lower price. The author shows how this is very unlikely. I used to be a big supporter of free trade and I am not any more. Excellent book and a must read for any intelligent person.
|
|
|
Powered by Associate-O-Matic
| |
