ABSTRACT

requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. The dissertation consists of three essays in the theory of resource allocation. The first, entitled "The Simple Analytics of Welfare Maximization", is a complete treatment, in six parts, of the problem of welfare maximization in its "new welfare economics " aspects. Part I is a rigorous diagrammatic determination of the "best " confi-guration of inputs, outputs, and commodity-distribution for a two-input, two-output, two-person situation, where all functions are of smooth curvature and where neo-classical generalized diminishing returns obtain in all but one dimension-- returns to scale are assumed constant. A geometric device is suggested which simplifies one step of the derivation. Part II identifies the "price-wage-rent" configuration embedded in the maximum problem which would ensure that decentralized profit and preference maximizing behavior by atomistic competitors would lead to the maximum-welfare position. Part II