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Economics

2001

SelectedWorks

Articles 1 - 30 of 37

Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

Conflicts And Common Interests In Committees , Hao Li, Sherwin Rosen, Wing Suen Dec 2001

Conflicts And Common Interests In Committees , Hao Li, Sherwin Rosen, Wing Suen

hao li

Committees improve decisions by pooling independent information of members, but promote manipulation, obfuscation, and exaggeration of private evidence when members have conflicting preferences. We study how self-interest mediates these conflicting forces. When members' preferences differ, no person ever submits a report that allows perfect inference of his private information. Instead, equilibrium strategies are many-to-one mappings that transform continuous data into ordered ranks: voting procedures are the equilibrium methods of achieving a consensus in committees. Voting necessarily coarsens the transmission of information among members, but is necessary to control conflicts of interest. The degree of coarseness of the equilibrium voting procedure …

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A Organização Comum Do Mercado De Açúcar Na União Europeia: Estrutura, Instrumentos Regulatórios E Interesses, Heitor Moura Filho Nov 2001

A Organização Comum Do Mercado De Açúcar Na União Europeia: Estrutura, Instrumentos Regulatórios E Interesses, Heitor Moura Filho

Heitor Moura Filho

The subsidies and protection structure of the sugar sectors in the European Union originated from the individual national protection systems, unified with the creation of the Common Agricultural Policy. The main form of protection for agricultural products in the EU are the Common Organisations of the Market, which fix rules for planting, sale, prices, subsidies, storage and foreign trade. The COM for Sugars is based on an intervention price, at present quite higher than international prices. To determine who benefits from this intervention price, production quotas are established and distributed to each Member-State, producer and raw-material supplier. In parallel, levies …

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Can High Prices Ensure Product Quality When Buyers Do Not Know The Sellers' Cost?, Eric Bennett Rasmusen, Timothy Perri Oct 2001

Can High Prices Ensure Product Quality When Buyers Do Not Know The Sellers' Cost?, Eric Bennett Rasmusen, Timothy Perri

Eric Bennett Rasmusen

The Klein-Leffler (1981) model of product quality does not explain why high-quality firms would dissipate the rents they earn from quality- assuring price premia, and it relies on consumers knowing the cost functions of firms. In the present paper, consumers do not know any firm's cost of producing quality goods, so high- quality firms must engage in conspicuous spending to demonstrate they earn a profitable mark-up over cost. Complete rent dissipation occurs only when high and low cost firms have the same cost of producing low quality.

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Ex Parte Declaration Of Peter Cramton, Peter Cramton Oct 2001

Ex Parte Declaration Of Peter Cramton, Peter Cramton

Peter Cramton

Further comments on the CMRS spectrum cap. For Leap Wireless.

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Trade Liberalization And Intra-Industry Trade: The Case Of The U.S. And Mexico, Robert C. Shelburne Sep 2001

Trade Liberalization And Intra-Industry Trade: The Case Of The U.S. And Mexico, Robert C. Shelburne

Robert C. Shelburne

This paper investigates how U.S.-Mexican intra-industry trade (IIT) has evolved since the creation of the NAFTA beginning in 1994. These empirical findings are of value not only for the study of the U.S.-Mexican trading relationship, but they also contain several important conclusions applicable more generally to the study of the theoretical basis for intra-industry trade and its empirical estimation. The basic conclusions of this study are: 1) Unlike the European experience after the creation of the European Common Market, and most other regional trade arrangements, trade between the U.S. and Mexico has remained mostly inter- industry trade, and the growth …

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Is Free Trade Good For The Environment, M. Scott Taylor, Werner Antweiler, Brian R. Copeland Sep 2001

Is Free Trade Good For The Environment, M. Scott Taylor, Werner Antweiler, Brian R. Copeland

M. Scott Taylor

This paper investigates how openness to international goods markets affects pollution concentrations. We develop a theoretical model to divide trade’s impact on pollution into scale, technique, and composition effects and then examine this theory using data on sulfur dioxide concentrations. We find international trade creates relatively small changes in pollution concentrations when it alters the composition of national output. Estimates of the trade-induced technique and scale effects imply a net reduction in pollution from these sources. Combining our estimates of all three effects yields a somewhat surprising conclusion: freer trade appears to be good for the environment.

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Demographic Shock And Social Security: A Political Economy Perspective, Georges Casamatta, Helmuth Cremer, Pierre Pestieau Aug 2001

Demographic Shock And Social Security: A Political Economy Perspective, Georges Casamatta, Helmuth Cremer, Pierre Pestieau

Georges Casamatta

We assume that individual voters differ not only according to age but also productivity. In the steady state, workers with wages in the intermediate range join the retired persons to form a majority and vote for a positive level of social security. When a shock decreases population growth, entrenched interests can constrain majority voting decisions and prevent reforms in the name of entitlements. We show that from a Rawlsian viewpoint it may be desirable to rely on these entitlements to protect the low wage earners of the transition generations. However, when the possibility of fixing a basic pension is introduced, …

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Isolated And Proximate Illiteracy, Srijit Mishra Jun 2001

Isolated And Proximate Illiteracy, Srijit Mishra

Srijit Mishra

This paper is a discussion of the externality that an illiterate person would get from being in proximity to a literate person.

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Why Are Japanese Judges So Conservative In Politically Charged Cases?, Eric Bennett Rasmusen, J. Mark Ramseyer Jun 2001

Why Are Japanese Judges So Conservative In Politically Charged Cases?, Eric Bennett Rasmusen, J. Mark Ramseyer

Eric Bennett Rasmusen

In politically charged cases, Japanese judges routinely implement the policy preferences of the long- time ruling Liberal Democratic Party (the LDP). That Supreme Court justices defer to the LDP simply reflects the fact that they are appointed by the LDP at very a senior level. That lower court judges defer reflects -- we hypothesize that judges who defer on sensitive political questions do better in their careers. To test this, measure the quality of the assignments that some 400 judges received after deciding various categories of cases. To test the effect of a judge's decision on his job assignments, we …

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Affidavit Of Peter Cramton, Peter Cramton Jun 2001

Affidavit Of Peter Cramton, Peter Cramton

Peter Cramton

Comment on modifications to installed capability market. For ISO New England.

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Lessons Learned From The Uk 3g Spectrum Auction, Peter Cramton May 2001

Lessons Learned From The Uk 3g Spectrum Auction, Peter Cramton

Peter Cramton

No abstract provided.

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Market Effectiveness Assessment, Peter Cramton, Jeffrey Lien May 2001

Market Effectiveness Assessment, Peter Cramton, Jeffrey Lien

Peter Cramton

No abstract provided.

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Distortionary Taxation And Labor Market Performance, Riccardo Fiorito, Favio Padrini May 2001

Distortionary Taxation And Labor Market Performance, Riccardo Fiorito, Favio Padrini

riccardo fiorito

We construct quarterly estimates of consumption, labor and capital tax rates for several Oecd countries. We use then the stylized facts methodology - and also some structural analysis - to evaluate the relation between tax rates and labor market variables. The main policy result is that reducing tx rates on factors (labor, especially) notably increases employment and labor supply but has a smaller effect on unemployment because the two effects widely compensate.

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2000 Biennial Regulatory Review Spectrum Aggregation Limits For Commercial Mobile Radio Services, Wt Docket No. 01-14, Federal Communications Commission, "Declaration Of Peter Cramton,", Peter Cramton Apr 2001

2000 Biennial Regulatory Review Spectrum Aggregation Limits For Commercial Mobile Radio Services, Wt Docket No. 01-14, Federal Communications Commission, "Declaration Of Peter Cramton,", Peter Cramton

Peter Cramton

No abstract provided.

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Reply Declaration Of Peter Cramton, Peter Cramton Apr 2001

Reply Declaration Of Peter Cramton, Peter Cramton

Peter Cramton

Further comments on the impact of a delayed sale of spectrum license by Pacific Communication. For American Wireless.

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Decreasing Relative Risk Aversion And Tests Of Risk Sharing, Masao Ogaki, Qiang Zhang Mar 2001

Decreasing Relative Risk Aversion And Tests Of Risk Sharing, Masao Ogaki, Qiang Zhang

Qiang Zhang

The relative risk aversion (RRA) coefficient of a household whose consumption is close to the subsistence level may be very high. For example, if consumption is exactly at the subsistence level, the household may not be willing to bear any risk. If this is the case, then the RRA coefficient must be a decreasing function of wealth for poor households. Therefore we should allow the possibility of decreasing RRA (DRRA) in testing the full risk sharing hypothesis. However, existing tests in the empirical literature are derived using preferences that exhibit either increasing or constant RRA even when they are applied …

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Bargaining With Incomplete Information, Peter Cramton, Lawrence M. Ausubel, Raymond J. Deneckere Mar 2001

Bargaining With Incomplete Information, Peter Cramton, Lawrence M. Ausubel, Raymond J. Deneckere

Peter Cramton

A central question in economics is understanding the difficulties that parties have in reaching mutually beneficial agreements. Informational differences provide an appealing explanation for bargaining inefficiencies. This chapter provides an overview of the theoretical and empirical literature on bargaining with incomplete information. The chapter begins with an analysis of bargaining within a mechanism design framework. A modern development is provided of the classic result that, given two parties with independent private valuations, ex post efficiency is attainable if and only if it is common knowledge that gains from trade exist. The classic problems of efficient trade with one-sided incomplete information …

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Declaration Of Peter Cramton, Peter Cramton Mar 2001

Declaration Of Peter Cramton, Peter Cramton

Peter Cramton

Comments on the impact of fronts in the C and F Block Broadband PCS auction.

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The Optimality Of Being Efficient, Peter Cramton, Lawrence M. Ausubel Mar 2001

The Optimality Of Being Efficient, Peter Cramton, Lawrence M. Ausubel

Peter Cramton

In an optimal auction, a revenue-optimizing seller often awards goods inefficiently, either by placing them in the wrong hands or by withholding goods from the market. This conclusion rests on two assumptions: (1) the seller can prevent resale among bidders after the auction; and (2) the seller can commit to not sell the withheld goods after the auction. We examine how the optimal auction problem changes when these assumptions are relaxed. In sharp contrast to the no resale assumption, we assume perfect resale: all gains from trade are exhausted in resale. In a multiple object model with independent signals, we …

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Expert Affidavit Of Peter Cramton, Peter Cramton Feb 2001

Expert Affidavit Of Peter Cramton, Peter Cramton

Peter Cramton

Comments on the impact of a delayed sale of spectrum license by Pacific Communication. For American Wireless.

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Uncertainty And Technological Change In Medicine, Annetine Gelijns, Joshua Graff Zivin, Richard Nelson Jan 2001

Uncertainty And Technological Change In Medicine, Annetine Gelijns, Joshua Graff Zivin, Richard Nelson

Joshua Graff Zivin

No abstract provided.

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Timbuktu: A Lesson In Underdevelopment, Riccardo Pelizzo Jan 2001

Timbuktu: A Lesson In Underdevelopment, Riccardo Pelizzo

riccardo pelizzo

Th e purpose of the present paper is to investigate Timbuktu’s economic decline in the three centuries elapsed between 1526, when Leo Africanus reached the Mysterious City, and 1830, when the fi rst European explorers arrived in Timbuktu. It is argued that Timbuktu’s decline was neither an accident nor the result of inevitable natural conditions. Timbuktu’s decay was the product of historical and social forces. Specifi cally, it is argued that Timbuktu lost power and prestige because its market decayed. However, it is also suggested that no single factor can account individually for this event. Th e crisis of Timbuktu’s …

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Rights Of Inequality: Rawlsian Justice, Equal Opportunity, And The Status Of The Family, Justin Schwartz Jan 2001

Rights Of Inequality: Rawlsian Justice, Equal Opportunity, And The Status Of The Family, Justin Schwartz

Justin Schwartz

Is the family subject to principles of justice? In A Theory of Justice, John Rawls includes the (monogamous) family along with the market and the government as among the "basic institutions of society" to which principles of justice apply. Justice, he famously insists, is primary in politics as truth is in science: the only excuse for tolerating injustice is that no lesser injustice is possible. The point of the present paper is that Rawls doesn't actually mean this. When it comes to the family, and in particular its impact on fair equal opportunity (the first part of the the Difference …

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Poverty Research In Latin America And Sen’S Capability Approach, Andres Rius, Andrea Vigorito Jan 2001

Poverty Research In Latin America And Sen’S Capability Approach, Andres Rius, Andrea Vigorito

Andres Rius

No abstract provided.

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Investigating The Relevance Of Supply-Side Factors For Export-Oriented Investment, Alberto Behar Jan 2001

Investigating The Relevance Of Supply-Side Factors For Export-Oriented Investment, Alberto Behar

Alberto Behar

It is important to test the relevance of supply conditions — relative to demand or neutral conditions — for export-oriented investment (EOI). If supply-side factors are not more pertinent, costly measures in place to attract EOI to South Africa might have unintended consequences. Test results suggest supply-side variables are more important for foreign export-oriented investment and not more important for domestic export-oriented investment, but severe data constraints force the construction of crude EOI proxies for the tests. These constraints expose the need for better EOI information and research.

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Why Is The Japanese Conviction Rate So High?, Eric Bennett Rasmusen, J. Mark Ramseyer Jan 2001

Why Is The Japanese Conviction Rate So High?, Eric Bennett Rasmusen, J. Mark Ramseyer

Eric Bennett Rasmusen

Conviction rates are high in Japan. Why? We suggest it is because Japanese prosecutors are understaffed. If they can afford to bring only their strongest cases, judges see only the most obviously guilty defendants, and high conviction rates would then follow. Crucially, however, Japanese judges face biased incentives. A judge who acquits a defendant runs significant risks of hurting his career and earns scant hope of positive payoffs. Using data on the careers and published opinions of 321 Japanese judges (all judges who published an opinion on a criminal case in 1976 or 1979), we find skewed incentives to convict. …

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Prohibition And The Market For Illegal Drugs, Suren Basov, Jeffrey Miron, Mireille Jacobson Jan 2001

Prohibition And The Market For Illegal Drugs, Suren Basov, Jeffrey Miron, Mireille Jacobson

Suren Basov

No abstract provided.

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Credit Crunch As An Optimal Decision Of Risk-Averse Banks Under Uncertainty., Martin Berka Jan 2001

Credit Crunch As An Optimal Decision Of Risk-Averse Banks Under Uncertainty., Martin Berka

Martin Berka

No abstract provided.

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Financial Constraints And Investment Decisions, Giuseppe Travaglini, Enrico Saltari Jan 2001

Financial Constraints And Investment Decisions, Giuseppe Travaglini, Enrico Saltari

Giuseppe Travaglini Prof.

In what follows we show that liquidity constraints can affect a firm's investment even when the constraints are not currently effective. This happens when, at any given time, the firm believes that internal finance is likely to become a constraint in the future. In these circumstances, the value of the firm becomes a non-monotonic functional form of the fundamental. Thus, in a dynamic setting, the potential barrier to internal liquidity expansion exerts a global effect on the firm's investment policy, lowering its desired investment profile.

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Agglomeration, Enterprise Size, And Productivity, Edward J. Feser Jan 2001

Agglomeration, Enterprise Size, And Productivity, Edward J. Feser

Edward J Feser

Much research on agglomeration economies, and particularly recent work that builds on Marshall's concept of the industrial district, postulates that benefits derived from proximity between businesses are strongest for small enterprises. This paper investigates this hypothesis, examining the degree to which local business externalities differ in magnitude and type among large and small enterprises in two U.S. manufacturing sectors. A four factor micro-level production function with oft-cited sources of agglomeration economies (local input supply, labor pools, knowledge spillovers) modeled as technology parameters and dummy variables representing varying definitions of plant size (and type, i.e., single or multi establishment unit) are …

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