LUIS C. CORCHÓN is Professor of Economics at the Universidad de Alicante, Alicante, Spain. He has been a visiting scholar at Harvard University and the University of Rochester, and a visitor at the University of California at Davis, University of Bielefeld, the Institute for Advanced Studies in Vienna, the Hebrew University and the Indian Statistical Institute. He was a Fulbright Scholar in 1989, and has had papers published in the Quarterly Journal of Economics, Economic Theory, Economic Design, the International Journal of Industrial Organization, Mathematical Social Sciences, Economics Letters and the Scandinavian Journal of Economics.

Since the early seventies, following the pioneering work by Leo Hurwicz, economists have been studying the relationship between socially optimal goals and private self-interest. The task was to reconcile the Utopian and Hobbesian traditions, using game theory to find ways to organise the society that are both socially optimal and incentive compatible. This book provides a succinct and up-to-date account of this vast literature and will be welcomed by students, lecturers and anyone wishing to update their knowledge of the field.