Reputation is possible in a small community, but in the Smith-Lippman-Hayekian Great Society people are mainly strangers. I model credit reporting as a system of formalized and surgically-precise gossip. In the Great Society credit reporting makes possible reputations, which make possible credit...

Economists can to some extent enlighten policymakers and the public and influence public policy. That enlightenment is achieved more by concrete policy work and application of basics than by fancy models and fancy statistical significance. There is a trade-off between relevance/importance and...

In this article we develop a test statistic for testing the equality of mean vectors for paired doubly multivariate observations with q response variables and u sites in blocked compound symmetric covariance matrix setting. We obtain a natural extension of the Hotelling’s T2 statistic, the...

We have carefully reviewed "Evaluation of the California Smog Check Program and Recommendations for Program Improvements: Fourth Report to the Legislature." Overall, we find it a thorough and competent presentation of the basic facts, though we disagree with the conclusions. Our major concern is...

Using anN-person model, I explore the microfoundations of benevolent rules-dominant situations (of which the familiar time inconsistency models are examples). I show that under discretion the citizens confront a prisoner's dilemma, and I discuss the similar dilemmas embedded in the time...