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The theory of price and quality decision-making in industries with a few firms which recognize their mutual interdependence is of increasing interest to economists and policy makers. This book introduces a novel theory of that decision-making, based upon the notion of the industry as a community of agents who are involved in both competitive and cooperative relationships. It develops theories and illustrates methodological approaches to the analysis of price and quality decision-making in such instances of a 'rivalrous consonance of interests' among firms.

America is entering a new age of economic discord, warns Robert E. Kuenne. In addition to a panoply of other structural economic troubles, the nation must now confront unprecedented demands for the kind of "distributive justice" that will meet the needs of the elderly, handicapped, and impoverished. Furthermore, American society faces the pressing problems of the disadvantaged with no explicit code of economic justice. Claims to various kinds of government entitlements are based increasingly on appeals to "economic justice," but no real national agreement exists on what that expression means. In this ambitious work, Kuenne sets out to remedy this want of consensus. After an extensive evaluation of earlier thinking about distributive justice, Kuenne proposes a new theory, "dualistic individualism," that is consistent with the American ethos of political and economic liberalism. He then frames a formal Bill of Economic Rights and Obligations, which defines proper governmental conduct in the economic terrain as the American Constitution does in the political. Defending a form of governmental policy that strikes a balance between the egoistic and compassionate elements of American individualism, Kuenne also considers the practical tasks of program implementation, and goes on to assess the feasibility of meeting concrete redistributive goals over the next thirty years. His thorough investigation of one of the country's most urgent predicaments could do much to stimulate debate over the ad hoc and unprincipled distributive policies that now prevail in the United States. Originally published in 1993. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These paperback editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905

A collection of published papers in general equilibrium that explore the basic problems of extensive interdependence in models incorporating oligopoly, space, time and money. Robert E. Kuenne has also written "The Theory of General Economic Equilibrium".

Rivalry is a form of conflict in which relatively few opponents must make decisions in full knowledge that rivals will perceive those decisions as interfering to a greater or lesser extent with their welfares. Actors' autonomous actions must be undertaken only after opponents' potential reactions have discounted the favorable effects on the initiating agent's welfare in the absence of such reactions. This paper defines an environment of mature rivalry in which this prospective interaction of decisions takes place in a manner that restrains conflict through the fostering of mind-sets, institutions, and conditions that enhance cooperation. The role of uncertainty is featured as a facilitator of these stabilizing tendencies. A formal framework for analyzing the solution process in contexts of mature rivalry is presented using the theory of rivalrous consonance.