An important component of the costs of automotive air-pollution control has been nonpecuniary: a decline in vehicle performance characteristics. This regulatory impact on what the auto industry calls "drivability" has never been quantified, although there is considerable reason to believe that...

Using a spatial model of monopolistic competition, we investigate price discrimination in free-entry, zero-profit markets. We show that when brands are heterogeneous, competition does not prevent discrimination. The power to earn economic profits is not necessary for a firm to maintain...

In a declining industry, shrinking demand creates pressure for capacity to be reduced. Who exits first? There is a unique perfect equilibrium for firms with asymmetric market shares and identical unit costs in which survivability is inversely related to size: the largest firm can profitably...

This article examines the usefulness of stock returns in measuring the effects of regulation when the dates on which market expectations change are not known and standard sources, e.g., the Wall Street Journal, are used to choose announcement dates. Twenty major changes in regulatory constraint...

We examine a model in which all firms receive common signals as to the uncertain profitability of an investment whose actual payoffs are split only among those who develop the project earliest. The benefit from preempting rivals yields an equilibrium reduction in the amount of learning and...

This article explores a model of warranties in which moral hazard problems play a key role. The goal is to understand the important characteristics of warranties, including their provision of incomplete insurance and the relationship between product quality and coverage. We analyze a model in...

This article establishes necessary and sufficient conditions for economies of scope to exist, while taking into account the presence or absence of both local cost complementarity and product-specific fixed costs. In some circumstances the test developed here could show that economies of scope to...

Auctions are used in many different markets, including the leasing of a substantial fraction of the natural resources in the United States. The procedures used in the auctions conducted by the federal government have been a continuing source of controversy. One of the concerns has been the...

This article analyzes a time-of-use pricing experiment involving over 700 small and medium size commercial/industrial firms. Two basic rate structures were implemented: one with time-varying demand (kW) charges and a flat energy (kWh) charge, and the other with time-varying energy charges and a...

This article considers a repeated insurance model with incomplete information in which the insurer and the consumer both learn over time about the unknown risk category of the consumer. Care choices by young consumers affect the informational value of the accident history. Under an optimal...