This note provides a modern story for principles instructors to use as a supplement to textbook accounts of problems associated with externalities and the applicability of the Coase theorem. Our story begins in July of 1988, when Larry Ellison paid $3.9 million for a home in the Pacific Heights...

The voter participation rate in the U.S. varies significantly from one region to another. At the state level, the percentage of the population that was eligible to vote and that actually did so ranged from a low of 33.5 percent (Texas) to a high of 62.1 percent (South Dakota). The purpose of...

This brief note develops a pedagogically useful new (albeit still rudimentary) way of teaching the free-rider concept. This simple approach applies the familiar tools of indifference curve analysis to the topic at hand. Since so many students of economics are well versed in indifference curves,...

This extension of the rational voter model differs from prior studies in three ways: its adoption of aggregate voting data; its use of data that are non-demographic in nature; and its use of data that are time series rather than cross section. The study finds that the aggregate voter participation...

This study empirically investigates the potential impact of political action committee (PAC) election campaign contributions and other factors on the aggregate voter participation rate in the United States. For the study period 1960-1998, the aggregate voter participation rate appears to have...

The purpose of this pedagogical study is to provide a straightforward and easily understood framework that can be used to teach the economic behavior underlying income tax evasion. We begin with presenting a brief background that reflects the research that had been done, especially for the case...

This study provides a simple interpretation and extension of the Rational Voter Model (RVM), one which enables students in Public Choice classes to easily understand its application in a real-world context. In doing so, the presentation identifies key aggregate-level economic and non-economic...