Micromotives and Macrobehavior (Fels Lectures on Public Policy Analysis)
Average customer rating: 5 out of 5 stars
  • Micromotives and Macrobehavior
  • The Golden Rule and Self-Restraint
  • The big picture relevance of details
  • 1970s Freakonomics
  • Great reading and very varied
Micromotives and Macrobehavior (Fels Lectures on Public Policy Analysis)
Thomas C. Schelling
Manufacturer: W. W. Norton
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0393090094

Customer Reviews:

5 out of 5 stars Micromotives and Macrobehavior.......2007-08-09

This is one of the best books I have ever read. I have read it at least three times and learn something new each time. Schelling is not only a great economist but a great writer. He has a knack for making arcane concepts accessible. I highly recommend it. This book uses economic methodology to tackle "non-economic" concepts, such as segregation, sorting and mixing and cooperation.

5 out of 5 stars The Golden Rule and Self-Restraint.......2006-11-23

Schelling's book covertly drafts a model of economic support for the Golden Rule. While many of his examples may be repetitive, ultimately, we learn that by restraining ourselves in various enterprises, such as energy conservation, we are able to produce overall benefits for society. However, the hitch is that without critical mass or some basis for keeping rebels in line, no one adheres to the collective system and therefore no one benefits. Thus, the author intelligently posits an argument that in properly regulated environments, cooperation and selflessness produce stability and will lead to long-term success.

What is more interesting are Schelling's numerous examples and asides about human behavior that, once examined carefully, yield a greater understanding about everyday phenomena. For example, he writes, "Most people think that inflation reduces purchasing power without stopping to notice that their own pay increases are somebody else's inflation, and at least some of it must cancel out." This book is filled with such astute and not easily apparent statements. He also carries economic theory into social theory, showing that if all men married women four years younger than them where population is growing at three percent annually, eventually women of marrying age may outnumber men by more than 12%. The book has several of these nuggets, but leaves out an obvious and one of my favorite lessons about education: when a student goes to school, s/he not only "loses" the money s/he spends on tuition, but also her/his earning power during the years spent studying. For this reason, one could argue that it seems more sensical to attend school when there is a recession and to work when unemployment is low.

The glaring gap in this book is the problem of freeloaders--what do we do, for example, about the neighbor who waters his lawn excessively during a water shortage, thereby creating less incentive for others to conserve water? The author most likely believes that education will assist this problem, but this may be an idealistic notion at best. Still, Schelling manages to prove that cooperation rather than competition in some cases may produce better results, leading to viable arguments against selfish behavior.

5 out of 5 stars The big picture relevance of details.......2006-03-25

I enjoyed this book for it's stimulating arguments and everyday examples of big picture, "big topics" issues. As a novice to any type of economic analysis I've found the book informative and interesting. I recommend this book to anybody wishing to increase their awareness of the relevance of everyday events and experience to bigger, more intellectual topics.

4 out of 5 stars 1970s Freakonomics.......2006-03-23

Game theory has been criticized for being able to explain anything, yet having little predictive capability. Whatever the case, Thomas Schelling's book is a gem. He takes everyday life phenomena and applies some systematic analysis as to why these things happen. It's a quick read and when you are done you too will keep viewing any issues coming your way as if they were seeking an equilibrium. With the varied topics and colorful examples it's the 1970s equivalent of "Freakonomics".

5 out of 5 stars Great reading and very varied.......2005-11-18

This is probably Schelling's best book and is up against tough competition. But his mind is razor-sharp, his examples always fascinating and he is quite simply the best writer of economics around. This is not an introductory economics book - it's too original for that - but it is perfectly accessible to the general reader. Find out why neighbourhoods are segregated, why nobody sits in the front row of a lecture hall, and best of all, the economics of christmas card lists. A joy.
Tragic Choices (The Fels Lectures on Public Policy Analysis)
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    Tragic Choices (The Fels Lectures on Public Policy Analysis)
    Guido Calabresi , and Philip Bobbitt
    Manufacturer: W. W. Norton & Company
    ProductGroup: Book
    Binding: Paperback

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    ASIN: 039309085X
    Democratic Constitutional Design and Public Policy: Analysis and Evidence
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      Democratic Constitutional Design and Public Policy: Analysis and Evidence

      Manufacturer: The MIT Press
      ProductGroup: Book
      Binding: Paperback

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      ASIN: 0262532808

      Book Description

      The variety of constitutional designs found in democratic governments has important effects on policy choices and outcomes. That is the conclusion reached in Democratic Constitutional Design and Public Policy, in which the constitutional procedures and constraints through which laws and public policies are adopted--election laws, the general architecture of government, the legal system, and methods for amendment and reform--are evaluated for their political and economic effects. Leading scholars, many of them pioneers in the new field of constitutional political economy, survey and extend recent empirical evidence on the policy effects of different constitutional procedures and restraints. Their findings are relevant not only to such dramatic changes as democratic transition throughout the world and the development of a European constitution but also to the continuing process of constitutional reform in established democracies.

      Using the tools of rational choice analysis, the contributors approach the question of constitutional design from public choice, new institutionalist, and new political economy perspectives. Drawing on empirical evidence largely from the OECD countries, the book analyzes such issues as the policy effects of direct (as opposed to representative) democracy, democratic accountability in presidential as compared to parliamentary government, bicameralism and its relation to stable policies, the relative effectiveness of centralized and decentralized governments, the civil and legal regulatory system as a nation's "economic constitution," and the link between constitutional stability and the amendment process.

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      John C. Bradbury, Roger D. Congleton, W. Mark Crain, Daniel Diermeier, Lars Feld, Bruno Frey, James D. Gwartney, Randall Holcombe, Hülya Eraslan, Brian Knight, Robert A. Lawson Antonio Merlo, Dennis Mueller, Torsten Persson, Bjørn Erik Rasch, Thomas Stratmann, Alois Stutzer, Birgitta Swedenborg, Guido Tabellini, Stefan Voigt, Barry Weingast
      Australia's regional forest agreement process: analysis of the potential and problems [An article from: Forest Policy and Economics]
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        Australia's regional forest agreement process: analysis of the potential and problems [An article from: Forest Policy and Economics]
        G. Musselwhite , and G. Herath
        Manufacturer: Elsevier
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        ASIN: B000RR4O9Y

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        This digital document is a journal article from Forest Policy and Economics, published by Elsevier in 2005. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Media Library immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

        Description:
        The 1990s heralded a new era in forest policy in Australia with the introduction of The National Forest Policy Statement which provided a framework under which native forest resources would be protected whilst also permitting ecologically sustainable timber harvesting. However, the implementation of the statement through the Regional Forest Agreements by state governments appear to contradict the conditions of the policy. Political bias towards development imperatives in implementing RFAs is evident. Community involvement in RFAs has not been satisfactory for sustainable forest use and management, with ongoing dissatisfaction from some stakeholder groups. There is still increased demand for protection of what remains of the various forest reserves. Aboriginal issues have not been settled in line with the expectation of the policy. There are continuing conflicts between the Commonwealth Government and some state governments.
        Decision Science and Social Risk Management: A Comparative Evaluation of Cost-Benefit Analysis, Decision Analysis, and other Formal Decision-Aiding Approaches (Risk, Governance and Society)
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          Decision Science and Social Risk Management: A Comparative Evaluation of Cost-Benefit Analysis, Decision Analysis, and other Formal Decision-Aiding Approaches (Risk, Governance and Society)
          M.W Merkhofer
          Manufacturer: Springer
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          Economic Growth and Social Welfare, Volume 262: Operationalising Normative Social Choice Theory (Contributions to Economic Analysis)
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            Economic Growth and Social Welfare, Volume 262: Operationalising Normative Social Choice Theory (Contributions to Economic Analysis)
            M. Clarke , and Sardar M.N. Islam
            Manufacturer: Elsevier Science
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            Binding: Hardcover

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            ASIN: 0444515658

            Book Description

            This book studies the relationships between economic growth and social welfare and the policy implications of these relationships for development. Understanding the relationships between economic growth and social welfare is an enduring issue within contemporary development economics and welfare economics. These relationships are analysed in this book by operationalising normative social choice theory. Normative social choice theory is an appropriate approach as it explicitly incorporates society's preferences, values and choices in determining how social welfare should be defined and measured. Two approaches, aggregate and hierarchical, are developed and empirically applied to Thailand for a twenty-five year period 1975-1999. This book concludes
            that in terms of social welfare, economic growth cannot always be assumed desirable. What is needed is social welfare enhancing economic growth. A review of the policy implications of this finding is also undertaken.
            Environmental Risk, Environmental Values, and Political Choices: Beyond Efficiency Trade-Offs in Public Policy Analysis
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              Environmental Risk, Environmental Values, and Political Choices: Beyond Efficiency Trade-Offs in Public Policy Analysis

              Manufacturer: Westview Pr (Short Disc)
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              ASIN: 0813381479
              The Market Approach to Education: An Analysis of America's First Voucher Program.
              Average customer rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars
              • There's no market approach here
              • A Study of Milwaukee Vouchers
              The Market Approach to Education: An Analysis of America's First Voucher Program.
              John F. Witte
              Manufacturer: Princeton University Press
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              Binding: Hardcover

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              ASIN: 0691009449

              Amazon.com

              It's impossible to pry the school voucher debate from the political and romantic barbells that weigh it down, but this comprehensive look at the nation's first experiment with vouchers comes as close as it gets. Author John F. Witte, the independent evaluator of Milwaukee's first five years with vouchers, gives the issue context by addressing the politics, the media, and the starry-eyed notions of transforming public education. But the bulk of his book is composed of statistics, scientific observations, and the unglamorized tales of some private schools that first participated in the experiment. Witte, a political science and public affairs professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, shuns the simplistic view that vouchers will either reinvigorate or destroy public schools. Instead, he lays out the pros and cons in a detailed, scholarly manner, complete with charts and thick footnotes. His primary message: vouchers can be a lifeline for poor families struggling with inferior inner-city schools by giving them a choice where none existed before.

              Witte's final stance has surprised the antichoice movement, which used his earlier research results to argue against vouchers. Still, his endorsement is far from ringing--he found no proof that vouchers improve students' test scores or offer them a better education in the private sector. He also recommends that vouchers be issued to low-income students only, thus opening up another cause for debate. His writing is cautious and a bit defeated, reflecting a frustration with the attacks leveled at him from both sides of this raging dispute. He shouldn't despair: this book is a valuable resource that, if heard above the shouting, could elevate the debate and lead to a more rational conclusion. --Jodi Mailander Farrell

              Book Description

              Milwaukee, one of the nation's most segregated metropolitan areas, implemented in 1990 a school choice program aimed at improving the education of inner-city children by enabling them to attend a selection of private schools. The results of this experiment, however, have been overshadowed by the explosion of emotional debate it provoked nationwide. In this book, John Witte provides a broad yet detailed framework for understanding the Milwaukee experiment and its implications for the market approach to American education. In a society supposedly devoted to equality of opportunity, the concept of school choice or voucher programs raises deep issues about liberty versus equality, government versus market, and about our commitment to free and universal education. Witte brings a balanced perspective to the picture by demonstrating why it is wrongheaded to be pro- or anti-school choice in the abstract. He explains why the voucher program seems to be working in the specific case of Milwaukee, but warns that such programs would not necessarily promote equal education--and most likely harm the poor--if applied universally, across the socioeconomic spectrum.

              The book begins with a theoretical discussion of the provision of education in America. It goes on to situate the issue of school choice historically and politically, to describe the program and private schools in Milwaukee, and to provide statistical analyses of the outcomes for children and their parents in the experiment. Witte concludes with some persuasive arguments about the importance of specifying the structural details of any choice program and with a call supporting vouchers for poor inner-city children, but not a universal program for all private schools.

              Voucher programs continue to be the most controversial approach to educational reform. The Market Approach to Education provides a thorough review of where the choice debate stands through 1998. It not only includes the "Milwaukee story" but also provides an analysis of the role, history, and politics of court decisions in this most important First Amendment area.

              Download Description

              Milwaukee, one of the nation's most segregated metropolitan areas, implemented in 1990 a school choice program aimed at improving the education of inner-city children by enabling them to attend a selection of private schools. The results of this experiment, however, have been overshadowed by the explosion of emotional debate it provoked nationwide. In this book, John Witte provides a broad yet detailed framework for understanding the Milwaukee experiment and its implications for the market approach to American education. In a society supposedly devoted to equality of opportunity, the concept of school choice or voucher programs raises deep issues about liberty versus equality, government versus market, and about our commitment to free and universal education. Witte brings a balanced perspective to the picture by demonstrating why it is wrongheaded to be pro- or anti-school choice in the abstract.

              Customer Reviews:

              1 out of 5 stars There's no market approach here.......2001-01-02

              Contrary to its title, this book devotes only a dozen of its 221 pages to "the market approach to education." The rest of the book tells the story of the tiny pilot voucher program operating in Milwaukee, Wisconsin: how the legislation was written and passed, what evaluations conducted by Witte and others have found; and ruminations over the future of this and other voucher programs.

              Witte's evaluation of the Milwaukee choice program is good to have in the library of serious school reform advocates, but it has been superceded by Paul Peterson and his colleagues at Harvard. Serious students of choice will find the rest of this book frustrating for several reasons.

              Witte's writing style is imprecise and often marked by the use wrong words, so it is difficult to know just what he means. The worst offenses of this kind occur when he tries to discuss markets, since he seems unfamiliar with the basic vocabulary of economics. For example: "Thus while the pure market model provides an extreme case of stratification, universal vouchers will clearly increase current stratification and subsidy upward [sic] in the income stream [sic]." (207)

              Witte's table of features that distinguish private from public schools bears a closer resemblance to something that might appear in a seventh grade civics textbook than something produced by a writer familiar with public choice literature. Even elementary insights from microeconomics are missing: He cannot believe anyone would "open a school in the ghetto" under a voucher system, apparently unaware that profit margins could easily be as high or higher in privately run inner-city schools than in affluent suburbs.

              Witte's objections to "the market approach to education" come down to his assertion, often repeated but never substantiated by data or even good rhetoric, that vouchers would lead to "more stratified schools," by which he variously means more segregated, less equally funded, or less accessible to students from middle- and lower-income families. Given the "savage inequalities" of current government school systems, it is a weak and conflicted claim to make.

              4 out of 5 stars A Study of Milwaukee Vouchers.......2000-04-27

              Witte's book can be divided into two main areas for critique. The first is the credible presentation of fact-based information. The second and less legitimate section is Witte's advocacy of the voucher program.

              In its straight-forward, relatively unbiased assessment of the voucher program in Milwaukee, The Market Approach to Education serves as a useful resource to educational study. Witte presents conclusions about the program based on empirical research conducted in the first years of the its existence. Although there are tables and graphs, the information contained within the writing is completely understandable and intersting. In other words, the book is not a trail of numbers even though it presents a substantial amount of factual information.

              A main source of inconsistency lies in Witte's personal conclusions and serves to discredit his argument. Witte claims to support the limited voucher program on the basis that it has the potential to aid students from disadvantaged areas. However, the evidence Witte presented seemed to suggest that private schools were no more shielded from the problems of education than the public schools, and that private schools yielded no better results than did public schools. Thus, why would he argue in favor of these targeted vouchers if they do not seem to realize their intent? Additionally, Witte states and reiterates that governmentally instituted programs which are initially targeted at a specific group of people, once deemed successful, are expanded to be implemented universally. Witte argues that this universal implementation would destroy the goals of the targeted vouchers: to work toward a more equitable system of education. The universal voucher system, Witte argues, would result in a stratification of education along socio-economic lines, just as all other commodities are economically stratified. Seeing this as contrary to the goal of educational vouchers, why would Witte support the targeted plan? His argument is somewhat schizophrenic. He, in fact, recognizes this, but does not offer any means to qualify his stance. For this reason, Witte's book loses some merit.

              Where its value lies is the information contained within on the effects of the voucher system and the presentation of the potential outcomes of the program.
              The Origins and Demise of South African Apartheid: A Public Choice Analysis
              Average customer rating: 5 out of 5 stars
              • Excellent study on the politics and economics of apartheid
              The Origins and Demise of South African Apartheid: A Public Choice Analysis
              Anton D. Lowenberg , and William Hutchison Kaempfer
              Manufacturer: University of Michigan Press
              ProductGroup: Book
              Binding: Hardcover

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              ASIN: 0472109057

              Book Description

              In the early 1990s, South Africa experienced a remarkable transition to democracy. Nelson Mandela was freed from prison, his previously outlawed ANC was legalized, and all-race elections were held in 1994. What motivated South Africa's former white leaders to hand over the reins of power to a black government? And what are the prospects for economic and political freedom in post-apartheid South Africa?
              The Origins and Demise of South African Apartheid addresses these questions, using public choice models to distill the essence of apartheid, to examine the reasons for its emergence in the first instance, and to study its subsequent evolution as the economy's structure changed. The authors evaluate the role of foreign economic sanctions and other international pressures in precipitating the fall of apartheid but find that domestic economic problems, caused by apartheid policies themselves, were more important than foreign sanctions in crippling the South African economy. Further perpetuation of apartheid would have meant even further declines in living standards for white as well as black South Africans.
              The authors also examine the postapartheid constitution for clues on South Africa's future prosperity. Finally they identify procedural and substantive weaknesses in the constitution that need to be addressed in order to create the foundations for a truly free society.
              The book will appeal to a wide audience of economists and political scientists, especially those interested in public choice and comparative systems, as well as to South Africa scholars in the fields of political science, history, and economics.
              Anton D. Lowenberg is Professor of Economics, California State University, Northridge. William H. Kaempfer is Professor of Economics, University of Colorado, Boulder.

              Customer Reviews:

              5 out of 5 stars Excellent study on the politics and economics of apartheid.......2000-03-28

              Ten years ago, I wrote South Africa's War against Capitalism. Inspiration for the title came from the kind of arguments I heard during my several trips to South Africa, comments made by blacks and their supporters in the struggle against apartheid. The essence of their argument was that apartheid was a by-product of laissez-faire capitalism. For these people, including many academics and politicians, some variant of socialism would provide the cure. My research and counterarguments would have been far more productive and persuasive if I had had the benefit of the insightful analysis set forth in Anton D. Lowenberg and William H. Kaempfer's new book, The Origins and Demise of South African Apartheid: A Public Choice Analysis.

              Lowenberg and Kaempfer provide powerful evidence for the Public Choice argument that South Africa's apartheid "was essentially a massive bureaucracy whose raison d'etre was the production of market regulations designed to effect wealth redistribution away from blacks and white mining and industrial capital owners in favor of white workers and agricultural capital owners. These regulations reflected the preferences of the median voter in an electorate dominated by white labor and rural constituencies." (p. 39)

              Many people attribute the demise of South Africa's apartheid to international sanctions. Lowenberg and Kaempfer arrive at a different conclusion: "The white South African Government abdicated power because of a recognition that apartheid policies were becoming too costly to maintain. The main costs associated with apartheid were self-imposed as a consequence of years of misguided development strategies on the part of the National Party government and its predecessors. Although external events such as the oil price shocks of the 1970s and international reaction to apartheid after the Soweto riots of 1976 contributed to the slow growth of the South African economy, even more significant was the fact that the economy had undergone changes which had turned the apartheid system, once an asset for important groups of the white population, into a liability." (p. 218)

              Lowenberg and Kaempfer devote several chapters to the sanctions issue. They show that despite claims that the goal of sanctions is to make targeted countries change objectionable domestic policies, sanctions more likely serve the interests of pressure groups within the sanctioning countries....

              Therefore, the Lowenberg and Kaempfer hypothesis suggests, for example, that the United States might impose sanctions on the importation of South African wine, textiles, and coal and not to create domestic resistance, because abundant substitutes exist for those goods. Moreover, domestic producers might cynically support embargoes on wine, textiles, and coal imports as a means of gaining monopoly power. The United States embargoed South African agricultural products, but European nations, which were heavy consumers of produce from South Africa in the winter, chose not to embargo that category of goods.
              Policy Analysis and Public Choice:  Selected Papers by William A. Niskanen
              Average customer rating: 3 out of 5 stars
              • by Randall G. Holcombe
              Policy Analysis and Public Choice: Selected Papers by William A. Niskanen
              William A. Niskanen
              Manufacturer: Edward Elgar Publishing
              ProductGroup: Book
              Binding: Hardcover

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              ASIN: 1858987024

              Book Description

              Policy Analysis and Public Choice is an important selection of articles written by William A. Niskanen over the last thirty years. The volume represents two quite different disciplines to which Niskanen has made a major contribution: policy analysis and public choice. It also includes his major essays on proprietary studies as well as many of his professional papers written for an academic audience. Part I details Niskanen's important contribution to policy analysis. The diverse topics discussed include: defense spending and resource allocation, trade policy, crime and drug policy, and welfare and the culture of poverty. Part II is concerned with public choice and political economy, in particular the liberal economic order, bureaucracy, democratic government and progressive taxation. The volume also includes an autobiographical summary focusing on the complementary nature of his work on policy analysis and public choice, and a number of commentaries that reflect Niskanen's unique professional background and perspective. Policy Analysis and Public Choice will be of special interest to those interested in public choice, public policy, political economy and political science.

              Customer Reviews:

              3 out of 5 stars by Randall G. Holcombe.......2001-03-01

              William Niskanen's volume of selected papers showcases more than thirty selections from his previously published work, and the collection reveals him to be a thoughtful observer of contemporary government and an insightful public-policy analyst. Niskanen is best known for his 1971 book, Bureaucracy and Representative Government, which he wrote while working at the Institute of Defense Analysis....

              Although Niskanen's analysis is insightful and thought-provoking on all of the various topics covered, the whole volume seems to have less value than the sum of its parts. The collection will make some of these papers easier to locate, if potential readers are aware that they have been reprinted here, but the chapters do not complement and support one another as did the chapters in Niskanen's earlier collection on bureaucracy, Bureaucracy and Public Economics (Aldershot, Eng.: Edward Elgar, 1994). If one is interested in any of the topics Niskanen discusses, his analysis is sure to shed light on the subject. The topics are so varied, however, and the methods of analysis so different, that the volume will have greatest value as a reference to be consulted on various topics, rather than as a book to be read from cover to cover.

              Books:

              1. Monetary Theory and Policy, 2nd Edition
              2. Off the Books: The Underground Economy of the Urban Poor
              3. Origin of Wealth: Evolution, Complexity, and the Radical Remaking of Economics
              4. Papa Rico, Papa Pobre: Lo Que Ensenan los Ricos a Sus Hijos Sobre el Dinero-que los Pobres y la Clase Media No Hacen
              5. Pedagogy Of The Oppressed: 30th Anniversary Edition
              6. Post Keynesian Price Theory (Modern Cambridge Economics Series)
              7. Principles of Corporate Finance + Student CD + Ethics in Finance PowerWeb + Standard and Poor's (McGraw-Hill/Irwin Series in Finance, Insurance, and Real Est)
              8. Public Choice III
              9. Quantitative Methods for Business (with Crystal Ball Pro 2000 v7.1, CD-ROM, and InfoTrac )
              10. Race Against Empire: Black Americans and Anticolonialism, 1937-1957

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