This book, with an overview introduction by Kenneth J.Arrow, is the first volume of the proceedings of the World Economic Congress held in Athens, Greece, in August/September 1989 under the auspices of the International Economic Association. It contains in Part 1 lectures from the plenary session by distinguished world economists. Part 2 contains surveys and reflections on various aspects of markets in equilibrium. Part 3 is concerned with normative criteria for economic policy within the framework of welfare and social choice theory.

Preface; A.Sen - The International Economic Association - Acknowledgements - IEA Programme Committee - List of Contributors and Section Leaders - Abbreviations and Acronyms - Introduction; K.J.Arrow - PART 1: THE PLENARY PAPERS - Presidential Address: The Nature of Inequality; A.Sen - Basic Income Schemes and the Lessons from Public Economies; A.B.Atkinson - Economic Restructuring in the USSR and International Economic Relations; A.G.Aganbegyan - The Mechanisms of Social Integration: The Role of the Market; Z.Ferge - History and Economic Theory; F.Hahn - Monitoring the Economic and Social Weather in the Philippines; M.Mangahas - PART 2: MARKETS IN EQUILIBRIUM - General Equilibrium in an Imperfect World: Incomplete Markets; F.Hahn - Comment; R.Guesnerie - Microeconomic Foundations and Properties of a Macroeconomic Model with Imperfect Competition; J-P.Benassy - The 'Folk Theorem' and Continuous Reaction Functions: A Synthesis; J.W.Friedman - Price Dispersion: Theoretical Considerationsand Empirical Evidence from the Marseille Fish Market; A.Kirman & A.Vignes - Information and Regulation; J-J.Laffont - Equilibrium and Rationality: Context and History-Dependence; J-F.Mertens - PART 3: WELFARE AND SOCIAL CHOICE - Alternative Approaches to Libertarian Rights in the Theory of Social Choice; K.Suzumura - The Normative Economics of Unanimity and Equality: Equity, Adequacy and Fundamental Dominance with Applications to Matchings and Wages; S-C.Kolm - A Solution to the Problem of Mass Elections; B.Peleg