State preemption laws strictly limit local governments from regulating beyond their borders. Local governments, however, face a broad spectrum of challenges which cannot be confined to municipal borders. These challenges freely flow in and out of many local jurisdictions at the same time. The...

From the perspective of competitors, competition may be modeled as a prisoner’s dilemma. Setting the monopoly price is cooperation, undercutting is defection. Jointly, competitors are better off if both are faithful to a cartel. Individually, profit is highest if only the competitor(s) is...

Public health experts have been predicting imminent threat of pandemic influenza. The latest US preparedness plans use the single statistic of case-fatality as the basis to evaluate any new threats. On this basis, Avian flu (H5N1) has been declared the single pandemic threat of concern, such...

We extend the analysis of optimal self-reporting schemes to situations like corruption where two individuals are required for a criminal act. This leads to strategic interactions in the self-reporting stage, because the fine can be made dependent on whether the accomplice self-reports or not....

In this paper I examine a number of economic arguments for the legal regulation of morality. Firstly, I present the harm principle as it was famously defined by John Stuart Mill, not only as a principle for a liberal objective criminal law but as a guiding principle for political liberalism. I...

Regulatory agencies frequently present violators with warnings, not pursuing prosecution if the violation ceases upon receipt of the warning. We show how such warnings may help regulators to keep control: Prosecution is costly for the regulator, and insufficient prosecution efforts yield low...

In May 2018, Scotland introduced a minimum unit price on alcohol. We examine the impact of this policy on traffic fatalities and drunk driving accidents. Using administrative data on the universe of vehicle collisions in Britain and a range of quasi-experimental modeling approaches, we do not...

This articles explores the history of federal SSI/SSDI benefits for those disabled by addictions, the competing definitions of addiction itself, and the policy rationales for repeated changes in the rules. I argue, as a policy matter, that addicts should be allowed to receive SSI/SSDI disability...