In this paper, I consider the question of whether ethical decision-making affects a person’s happiness. Using cross-country data from the World Values Survey, I find that people who agree that it is never justifiable to engage in ethically-questionable behaviors report that they are more...

In this paper we consider the question of whether middle-scale farmers, which we define as producers generating between $100,000 and $250,000 in sales annually, are better agricultural stewards than small and large-scale producers. Our study is motivated by the argument of some commentators that...

In this article I discuss the nature of ethical dilemmas and responsibilities. I begin by noting that there are two types of dilemmas, philosophical and behavioral. I distinguish between them, give examples, and explain why it is important to understand their differences. I also use the...

We investigate the relationship between exposure to "authoritarian" or "autocratic" institutions for prolonged periods of time and long-term economic development. Specifically, we examine how the length of time a country's regime was authoritarian between 1920 and 2000 is correlated with...

According to New Institutional Economics, transactional activities, governance structures, institutions and beliefs and values are related hierarchally. Each element must be aligned with the adjacent level for transaction costs to be minimized. This framework is applied to the question of...

We consider the effect of perceived economic pressures on the ethical attitudes of farmers. We hypothesize that an increase in the economic pressures a farmer faces could result in that farmer being more tolerant of unethical conduct than farmers not experiencing economic pressures. To test this...

According to New Home Economics, valuations of household production based on opportunity cost and market price methods should produce similar estimates. Data from the National Survey of Family and Households are used to assess the extent to which the opportunity cost and market price methods of...

In this paper I present an approach to teaching about and defining bribery that starts with the presumption that a payment, once defined as a "bribe," is prima facie unethical. That is, I make no distinction between "good bribes" and "bad bribes." In short, bribery cannot be justified. In this...

This paper presents a model of trust in which a principal chooses either to trust or monitor an agent who, in turn, chooses either to honor or exploit that trust. The principal's decision of whether to trust or monitor is based on the relative temptation an agent faces to exploit the principal's...

This paper examines the concepts of trust and trustworthiness in the context of a one-sided variation of the prisoner's dilemma, and it evaluates four different categories of solutions to the PD problem: changing player preferences, enforcing explicit contracts, establishing implicit contracts,...