This paper provides an analytical characterization of the welfare effects of changes in cross-sectional wage dispersion, using a class of tractable heterogeneous-agent economies with various insurance market structures. We express welfare effects both in terms of changes in the observable joint distribution over individual wages, consumption and hours, and in terms of the underlying parameters ...

What principles vis-à-vis future generations should govern our policy choices? Tyler Cowen argues for a “Principle of Growth”: “We should make political choices so as to maximize the rate of sustainable economic growth.”1 Economic growth means the growth of inclusive gross domestic product (GDP), not just marketed goods and services, but also leisure time, household production, and environmenta...

As welfare is a multidimensional concept, its assessment should be a multidisciplinary process, providing a comprehensive assessment of animal welfare in any given system. The different measurable aspects of welfare may be turned into welfare indicators and assessed in a scientific manner. Assessment of welfare may combine different approaches that include the assessment of the production syste...

We consider the computational complexity of the market equilibrium problem by exploring the structural properties of the Leontief exchange economy. We prove that, for economies guaranteed to have a market equilibrium, finding one with maximum social welfare or maximum individual welfare is NP-hard. In addition, we prove that counting the number of equilibrium prices is #P-hard.

We consider the computational complexity of the Market equilibrium problem by exploring the structural properties of the Leontief exchange economy. We prove that, for economies guaranteed to have a market equilibrium, finding one with maximum social welfare or maximum individual welfare is NP-hard. In addition, we prove that counting the number of equilibrium prices is #P-hard.