This volume contains recent surveys of the most important topics in economics.

This is the second of three volumes containing edited versions of papers and commentaries presented in invited symposium sessions of the Eighth World Congress of the Econometric Society. The papers summarize and interpret recent key developments and discuss future directions in a wide range of topics in economics and econometrics. The papers cover both theory and applications. Written by leading specialists in their fields, these volumes provide a unique survey of progress in the discipline.

1. Sorting, education, and inequality Raquel Fernandez
2. Wage equations and education policy Kenneth I. Wolpin
Empirical and theoretical issues in the analysis of education policy: a discussion of the papers by Raquel Fernandez and Kenneth I. Wolpin Costas Meghir
3. Toward a theory of competition policy Patrick Rey
4. Identification and estimation of cost functions using observed bid data: an application to electricity markets Frank Wolak
5. Liquidity, default, and crashes: endogenous contracts in general equilibrium John Geanakoplos
6. Trading volume Andrew W. Lo
Discussion of papers by John Geanakoplos and by Andrew Lo and Jiang Wang Franklin Allen
7. Inverse problems and structural econometrics: the example of instrumental variables Jean-Pierre Florens
8. Endogeneity in nonparametric and semiparametric regression models Richard Blundell
Discussion of papers by Jean-Pierre Florens and by Richard Blundell and James Powell Manuel Arellano.