The core concept of rational choice is what each undergraduate of economics is introduced to in one of the first sessions of their economics course at university. So was I. My fellow students and I sat in one of those large lecture halls in Heidelberg, enthusiastic toward that which was about to come. The teacher enters, starts the class with telling us about consumer demand, a theory grounded in the idea that people’s choices can be modeled via indifference curves. After studying the properties of those curves for several weeks, we concluded that thinking about behavior in this way had up until then been the most puzzling thing we had ever heard of. In German high school, the subject of economics is usually absent. When I began my degree program in economics at the university, I was excited to hopefully be able to critically engage one day in the public and political discourse about economics and the economy by making use of tools provided by the field. My idealistic self was convinced (and potentially still is) that one could only change the system from within, ideally using the language that a system and its proponents use themselves. Yet, I quickly felt that I might fail with economics. The technical language to model behavior in terms of consistent choices, rational preferences, and indifference curves was counterintuitive and so different from everyday discourse that I had a hard time translating. During my first semesters, I did not see any way to connect the two and almost gave up on the subject entirely. Understanding the basics in my first microeconomics class as an undergraduate has been a concern of mine ever since. This book is the result of finding one way to take this puzzlement as a starting point for making a serious attempt to better understand what economists are up to.

Describes Meade’s and his colleagues’ early efforts to plan for the postwar world.

Describes the British government’s ‘Meade Mission’ to the island of Mauritius and its subsequent report.

I met Robert Aumann (*1930) in his office at the Federmann Center for the Study of Rationality at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. The place has an interesting architecture; it is a square building with a large opening in the middle, so everyone could basically see everyone else’s office, enabling a lot of interaction. The green plants in the building nicely complemented the brown wood, together giving the feeling of comfort. Aumann’s office was located in a central spot in the building. When I entered, he sat behind his desk, surrounded by hundreds of books and papers. Rather small, but with a long white beard and a black suit, he nearly blended in with the shelves. Throughout the whole interview, Aumann remained friendly but at the same time notably affirmative, clearly having strong views – particularly on the status and relevance of game theory not only as a scholarly enterprise but also a basis for political advice and ultimately as a tool to support one’s political views.

Describes further work on postwar planning and discussions of the postwar world with the US administration.

Every 5 years, the World Congress of the Econometric Society brings together scholars from around the world. Leading scholars present state-of-the-art overviews of their areas of research, offering newcomers access to key research in economics. Advances in Economics and Econometrics: Twelfth World Congress consists of papers and commentaries presented at the Twelfth World Congress of the Econometric Society. This two-volume set includes surveys and interpretations of key developments in economics and econometrics, and discussions of future directions for a variety of topics, covering both theory and application. The first volume addresses such topics as contract theory, industrial organization, health and human capital, as well as racial justice, while the second volume includes theoretical and applied papers on climate change, time-series econometrics, and causal inference. These papers are invaluable for experienced economists seeking to broaden their knowledge or young economists new to the field.

Describes life and work at the League of Nations.

Continues the account of Meade’s life and work as Professor of Political Economy in Cambridge.

Every 5 years, the World Congress of the Econometric Society brings together scholars from around the world. Leading scholars present state-of-the-art overviews of their areas of research, offering newcomers access to key research in economics. Advances in Economics and Econometrics: Twelfth World Congress consists of papers and commentaries presented at the Twelfth World Congress of the Econometric Society. This two-volume set includes surveys and interpretations of key developments in economics and econometrics, and discussions of future directions for a variety of topics, covering both theory and application. The first volume addresses such topics as contract theory, industrial organization, health and human capital, as well as racial justice, while the second volume includes theoretical and applied papers on climate change, time-series econometrics, and causal inference. These papers are invaluable for experienced economists seeking to broaden their knowledge or young economists new to the field.

Every 5 years, the World Congress of the Econometric Society brings together scholars from around the world. Leading scholars present state-of-the-art overviews of their areas of research, offering newcomers access to key research in economics. Advances in Economics and Econometrics: Twelfth World Congress consists of papers and commentaries presented at the Twelfth World Congress of the Econometric Society. This two-volume set includes surveys and interpretations of key developments in economics and econometrics, and discussions of future directions for a variety of topics, covering both theory and application. The first volume addresses such topics as contract theory, industrial organization, health and human capital, as well as racial justice, while the second volume includes theoretical and applied papers on climate change, time-series econometrics, and causal inference. These papers are invaluable for experienced economists seeking to broaden their knowledge or young economists new to the field.

Describes progress towards GATT and Meade’s work before leaving government service.

Describes Meade’s family background and education at preparatory and public schools.

Nothing is as easy as a conversation with Colin Camerer (*1959) because with Camerer one can talk about almost everything and as critical as one pleases. Camerer is an enthusiastic pioneer of behavioral economics, arguing for choice models that are informed by psychological and neuroscientific results about human motivation, judgment formation, emotions and the brain. Camerer earned a PhD in behavioral decision theory at the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business under the supervision of Hillel Einhorn and Robin Hogarth at the age of only twenty-two, in 1981. Since then, he has held appointments at the Kellog Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University, at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, and the Booth School of Business at the University of Chicago. In 1994, he came to the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena where he is currently the Robert Kirby Professor of Behavioral Finance and Economics.