Customer Reviews

Dynamic Optimization: The Calculus of Variations and Optimal Control in Economics and Management (Advanced Textbooks in Economics)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The book is really good. However, it is missing a bunch of paragraphs. I thought it was just my book, but I checked with my friends who bought it too (it is required for one of our classes) and their books had the same missing paragraphs. I would highly recommend this book, but would buy the older versions of the same editions, because those don't seem to have the mis-printing problem.

I believe this was the first textbook to introduce dynamic optimization to economists. It's simply and clearly written. Each chapter introduces a new development, goes into the theory behind it and gives examples, in just a few pages so you can go through it in bite-sized chunks. The style is unfussy but doesn't talk down to you. Two appendices explain important theorems in calculus and differential equations, briefly but in enough detail to be usable if you aren't familiar with those parts of the maths. This is an excellent textbook, although I can't compare it with the competition.

There is no doubt that to master in advanced economics one should have a firm grasp on mathematical tools. Kamien and Schwartz's Dynamiz Optimization is the perfect book to this end. Actually it deserves a rating more than five stars.

This book is decent, but I think that Chiang book is better that this book, I recommend "Elements of Dynamic Optimization" from Alpha Chiang (ISBN: 157766096X), it's better.