Bengt-Christer Ysander has had a varied career in many locations. The largest share by far of his academic writing took place during his eight years (1978-1985) at IUI. We-a current and a former president of IUI -find it appropriate to put together a volume of selected writings of Bengt-Christer Ysander for his 60th birthday.
Only articles originally authored in English are included in this volume. Nevertheless, the selection illustrates the broad range of Ysander's academic writing, his originality and his early attention to problems that have only recently been addressed by economists. This collection also provides an opportunity to bring to the attention of a wider audience some of Ysander's original research which has appeared previously only in relatively unknown and not widely distributed and read publications.
Bengt-Christer Ysander's writings cover a broad range of topics, including highly abstract reasoning on the nature of truth in the social sciences (Chapter I), an early theoretical piece from 1981 on non-linear systems dynamics ("chaos") in Chapter II, an insightful essay on the nature of human capital (Chapter III), a sophisticated paper on macroeconomic modeling (Chapter IV), and some very down-to-earth articles on public sector growth and policy making (Chapters VI and VII).
As those of us know who have had the privilege of a long and stimulating association with Bengt-Christer Ysander, his writing is characterized by the same qualities as his personality: keen perception, sophistication, a high degree of technical competence-yet his argumentation is always clear, penetrating, and relevant. We are happy that the readers of this volume now have the opportunity to discover these truths for themselves.
