Strategies of Commitment and Other Essays

Thomas C. Schelling was Distinguished University Professor in the Department of Economics and School of Public Affairs at the University of Maryland and Lucius N. Littauer Professor of Political Economy, Emeritus, at Harvard University. He was co-recipient of the 2005 Nobel Prize in Economics.

• Preface 1. Strategies of Commitment Climate and Society 2. What Makes Greenhouse Sense? 3. The Economic Diplomacy of Geoengineering 4. Intergenerational and International Discounting Commitment as Self-Command 5. Self-Command in Practice, in Policy, and in a Theory of Rational Choice 6. Coping Rationally with Lapses from Rationality 7. Against Backsliding 8. Addictive Drugs: The Cigarette Experience Society and Life 9. Life, Liberty, or the Pursuit of Happiness 10. Should Numbers Determine Whom to Save? Economics and Social Policy 11. What Do Economists Know? 12. Why Does Economics Only Help with Easy Problems? 13. Prices as Regulatory Instruments Weapons and Warfare 14. Meteors, Mischief, and War 15. Research by Accident 16. Vietnam: Reflections and Lessons Social Dynamics 17. Social Mechanisms and Social Dynamics 18. Dynamic Models of Segregation Decisions of the Highest Order 19. The Legacy of Hiroshima Credits Index

Thomas Schelling, 2005 Nobel laureate in economics, is interested in the strategies--rational, irrational, mean, kind--that people use to constrain their behavior. In these essays, he looks at addiction, temptation and resolve, as well as the use of threats, promises and bluffing. What's fascinating is that he applies his analysis of these strategies not only to individual behavior but also to critical issues like race relations, abortion and the behavior of nations--for example, international agreements to reduce greenhouse gases. Schelling is that rarest of creatures, an economist who writes clearly, takes on practical questions and thinks them through alongside his reader. He is delightful to read.