Nicola Acocella is Professor of Economic Policy at the University of Rome 'La Sapienza'.

Preface; List of symbols; 1. Introduction; Part I. The Market, Efficiency and Equity: 2. Market failures: microeconomic aspects; 3. Market failures: macroeconomic aspects; Part II. Normative and Positive Theory of Economic Policy: 4. The normative theory of economic policy; 5. Government failures: elements of a positive theory of economic policy; Part III. Microeconomic Policies: 6. Property rights, corporate governance and public enterprises; 7. Competition policies. Policies for externalities and public goods; 8. Industrial and regional policies. Redistributive policies; 9. Social choice and cost-benefit analysis; Part IV. Macroeconomic Policies: 10. Macroeconomic schemes of analysis in an open economy; 11. Macroeconomic objectives and monetary policy; 12. Macroeconomic objectives and fiscal policy; 13. Incomes and price policies; 14. Balance of payments policies; 15. Trade policies: free trade and protectionism; Part V. Private and Public Institutions in an International Setting: 16. Monetary systems and exchange rate regimes; 17. Development and trade organisations; 18. Regional public institutions: the European Union; Part VI. Globalisation and the Quest for a New Institutional Setting: 19. The internationalisation of private institutions: the globalisation of markets and production; 20. The challenges of globalisation for public policies; List of references; List of boxes; Author index; Subject index.