The Pareto optimum is usually described as a production or an exchange situation, or some combination, where no further improvement can be made to the position of one participant without harming that of another, and movements toward it are termed “efficient”. Perhaps most economists take the...

High inbuilt inflation is a frightening problem for many western societies, undermining not merely the efficiency of the economy but the moral strength of participants as well. There is a widespread if loose belief that the recommendations of economists amount to little more than moving the...