The Distorted Economy

H. Blomqvist, M. Lundahl

• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
• Year: 2002
• Print ISBN:
  9780333802083
• eBook ISBN:
  9781403914347
• Topic: Economics
• Subtopic: Econometrics
• Index: Economics

An economy does not always work according to idealized textbook models. Frequently, economic systems are subject to wide-ranging distortions and require remedy via subsidy and taxes to restore their social optimum. In The Distorted Economy, Hans C. Blomqvist and Mats Lundahl describe how to tackle the various distortions on goods and factor markets and apply their analytic framework to several case studies such as the trade policy of developing countries, apartheid in South Africa and socialist planned economies. The authors offer an important and timely analysis of the cause, effect and resolution of distortions in the economy.

Table of contents

• Cover
• The Distorted Economy
• Contents
• List of Figure
• Preface
• 1 Welfare, Government Intervention and Political Economy
• 2 Some Analytical Tools
• 3 The Gains from Foreign Trade: The Fundamental Theorem
• 4 Trade, Distortions and Welfare
• 5 Instrumental Distortions: Swedish Agricultural Policy
• 6 Import Substitution in Developing Countries
• 7 Urban Bias
• 8 The Apartheid System in South Africa
• 9 The Socialist Planned Economy: The Price System Eliminated
• 10 Interest Groups and Collective Action
• 11 Directly Unproductive Profit-Seeking Activities
• 12 The State as an Interest Group: The Economic Logic of Wielding Power
• 13 The Predatory State: Haiti and the Dominican Republic
• 14 From the Perfect Economy to the Predatory State: The Internal Logic of Distortions
• Index