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Economic theory and philosophy have discussed concepts of fairness, but the criteria of fairness are in each case absolute: a situation is either fair or it is not. This book draws on these literatures to propose two criteria of relative fairness, and a hierarchical rule for the priority of application of these criteria, with a view to comparison of practicable alternatives in public policy.

Contents: 1. Fairness in a system of cooperative, joint production -- 2. Decision, cooperation and stability -- 3. Side payments in effectivity analysis of cooperative games -- 4. Efficiency and fairness -- 5. The veil of ignorance -- 6. Intergenerational transfers -- 7. Intergenerational transfers: Some complications -- 8. Interregional fairness, migration and efficiency -- 9. Policy, externality, gilets jaunes and interregional fairness -- 10. Fairness from the perspective of an individual or group -- 11. Fair wages and prices -- 12. Fairness from the perspective of a caste or race -- 13. Concluding summary -- Index.

Inhaltsverzeichnis: Introduction -- Small and medium businesses : a diverse population -- Microeconomics and small business -- Entrepreneurship and small business -- Small business, growth and employment -- Small business as family business -- The life cycle of small business, part 1: "Spawning" -- Small business and liquidity constraint -- The life cycle of small business, Part 2: Succession -- Franchising -- The controversy over "Gibrat's law" -- Small business and happiness -- Small business, women and people of color -- Economic policy for small business

Contents: 1. Introduction : plan and scope of the book -- 2. The future of capitalism -- 3. Why be concerned? inequality and instability -- 4. Sir Arthur Lewis' equalitarian vision -- 5. Piketty's narrative and the wealth tax -- 6. Can we "grow the middle class?" -- 7. Synthesis and extension -- 8. To each according to need -- 9. Civilizing the corporation -- 10. Planning from the bottom up -- Index.

Game theory is useful in understanding collective human activity as the outcome of interactive decisions. In recent years it has become a more prominent aspect of research and applications in public policy disciplines such as economics, philosophy, management and political science, and in work within public policy itself. Here Roger McCain makes use of the analytical tools of game theory with the pragmatic purpose of identifying problems and exploring potential solutions in public policy. In practice, the influence of game theory on public policy and related disciplines has been less a consequence of broad theorems than of insightful examples. Accordingly, the author offers a critical review of major topics from both cooperative and noncooperative game theory, including less-known ideas in noncooperative game theory and constructive proposals for new approaches. In so doing, he provides a toolkit for the analysis of public policy as well as a clearer understanding of the public policy enterprise itself. The author' s unique approach and treatment of game theory will be a useful resource for students and scholars of economics and public policy, as well as for policymakers themselves. --

'For most of the 20th century economists focused on competition as the driving force of the modern capitalist economy. In his thoughtful and readable book, Roger A. McCain offers a different frame of reference for economists. Using game theory's distinction between cooperative and non-cooperative games, he defines economics as the study of the development of cooperative agreements in the economy and the failure to bring them about. Orthodox economists who think in terms of a competitive model and heterodox economists who adhere to a class conflict paradigm will both find their ideas challenged by McCain's new frame that sees mature capitalism as the result of class compromise based on an imperfectly cooperative game.' (Donald R. Stabile, St. Mary's College of Maryland, US). -- The objectives of this book are twofold. Firstly, it proposes that economics should be defined as a study of imperfect cooperation. Secondly, it elucidates the continuities that extend from classical political economy through the neoclassical, Keynesian, and modern economics of the twenty-first century. Roger McCain explores economics as the study of cooperative arrangements, or the ways in which people work together. He asserts that there is no 'new paradigm', but rather a more encompassing cognitive frame. In the same spirit, the book borrows freely, without doctrinairism, from Austrian and other heterodox traditions - including Marxism where it is helpful - and social philosophers in the social contract tradition. Game theory of both branches plays a key role throughout. -- Presenting an innovative new framework for the major topics that together make up economic theory, this highly accessible book will strongly appeal to economics scholars, researchers and students, especially those in the fields of heterodox economics and the history of economic thought.