This article calculates conduct parameters (or "conjectural variations") for a set of duopoly airline routes. We estimate the mean conduct parameter for each airline and draw inferences about whether Bertrand, Cournot, or cartel models are supported by the data. Some sensitivity analysis with...

This article concerns the economic incidence of the Interstate Commerce Act of 1887 (ICA). Our focus is the short-haul pricing constraint, a provision of the ICA that prohibited railroads from charging higher rates to isolated, primarily agrarian shippers than it charged to intercity shippers of...

This article estimates the highly differential impacts of FDA regulations on pharmaceutical firms of various sizes (where size is measured as scale of R&D expenditures). Estimation is performed using the method of maximum quasi-likelihoods, using productivity trends of the United Kingdom as a...

Modifications in demand due to time-of-use (TOU) pricing have potential to improve the efficiency of electric power supply. With long lead times for plant construction, utility planners need long-run estimates of response to TOU rates. Existing evidence is primarily drawn from short-run TOU...

I present a model in which a continuum of individuals have stochastic idiosyncratic income shocks. Complete insurance is physically feasible but unattainable due to an information asymmetry; income shocks are observable only by the individuals receiving them. Any insurance institution must...

The regulatory price-adjustment process originally proposed by Vogelsang and Finsinger has been shown to be vulnerable to strategic manipulation by the regulated firm. This article proposes several modifications to that scheme which improve its performance and broaden its applicability....

The 1989 Cable Act eliminated most price regulation of cable television operators, including the right of municipalities to enforce price terms in franchise agreements. Deregulation was justified, at least partially, by the contention that competition from other entertainment media eliminated...

In recent years U.K. Department of Trade investigations into the affairs of a specific company have sometimes been critical of the work done by its auditors and reporting accountants. This article assesses the impact of this criticism on the auditor's reputation. In particular, it examines the...

This article studies the role of installment payments in relationships characterized by moral hazard and sunk costs. We rule out vertical integration and payments contingent on the product of the contractor. Instead, each payment is negotiated as and when made. In such circumstances, an initial...

This article evaluates pension asset reversions as a source of takeover gains. In our sample of 413 takeovers, pension funds were reverted by 15.1% of acquirers in the two years following hostile takeovers compared to 8.4% in the two years following friendly takeovers. Reversions following...