Abstract. A game theoretic model of the relationship between an information evaluator and a decision maker is formulated, and interdependence analysis is employed to decompose the game into several components. Each of these components represents one aspect of the interdependence relationship experienced by the information evaluator and decision maker. The analysis is then employed to distinguish among game forms. Résumé. Un modèle de la théorie des jeux établissant une relation entre un évaluateur d'informations et un décideur est proposé, et l'analyse d'interdépendance est utilisée afin de décomposer le jeu en plusieurs parties. Chacune de ces composantes représente une facette de la relation d'interdépendance vécue par l‘évaluateur d'informations et le décideur. Par la suite, l'analyse sert à établir une distinction parmi les “formes de jeu”.

Paul W. Rhode of University of Michigan and NBER reviews “Plagues upon the Earth: Disease and the Course of Human History” by Kyle Harper. The EconLit abstract of this book begins: “Explores the ways that human history has shaped disease ecology and pathogen evolution and how disease ecology and pathogen evolution have shaped human history in turn, detailing how the emergence, incidence, and consequences of disease in both individuals and populations are inseparable from a wider array of social and environmental factors.”

This essay reviews Networks and Markets, edited by James E. Rauch and Alessandra Casella. This book provides a useful vehicle for clarifying the main conceptual and operational issues facing the growing study of economic networks. Three types of networks are discussed: networks as concentrated or patterned exchange; as primordial relations; and, the most general, networks as structures of mutual orientation. An overview is provided of the challenges faced by research on the economic implications of three types of networks. The strengths and weaknesses of current research on economic networks are examined via a review of the contributions in the book.

Suddenly, and somewhat unexpectedly, there seems to be a real chance for change in the way economics is taught in American colleges and universities. During the last two years, three different groups have taken a critical look at economics education and declared that change is in order. The Association of American Colleges (AAC), in conjunction with the American Economic Association (AEA), commissioned a study of the undergraduate economics major which has led to a report with several recommendations for reform (John Siegfried et al. 1991); in response to a National Science Foundation (NSF) symposium that revealed concern over the state of graduate education, the AEA formed the Commission