[eng] This text is a slightly revised version of the opening lecture to the “ Journées de l’Association Française de Science Économique ” (Rennes , 2004). In keeping with the rules of the exercise, the article provides a broad assessment of the difficulties and usefulness of...

This paper studies the form of the tax equilibrium set in simple Diamond-Mirrlees models and characterizes the corresponding Laffer curves. The curves need not ever slope downward and can have multiple local maxima. Local information about them is thus not sufficient to place restrictions on...

Este artigo apresenta uma reflexão sobre a ciência econômica. Através da história da disciplina, desde Ricardo ao manifesto da Sociedade de Econometria, serão discutidas as categorias 'análise' e 'teoria' e sublinhados os méritos e os perigos do trabalho 'teórico-quantitativo' e...

The paper considers a version of the well-known Lucas [1972] model, in a specification due to Azariadis. The "Lucas" solution is derived (explicitly in this framework) under the assumption that money is "strongly neutral" (in the sense that the current stock of money does not influence real...

The paper presents a brief review of recent work that focuses on the normative economics of international trade. In a Heckscher-Ohlin-like economy, with skilled and unskilled workers, the available redistributive tools (that include income taxation) are not powerful enough to allow the...

The paper discusses the concept of 'expectational market failures'; it attempts to assess the scope for Government intervention aiming at stabilizing economic agents' expectations. The rational-expectations hypothesis, 'evolutive' and 'eductive' learning, credibility, 'indicative planning',...