As NATO expands eastward, Russia has expressed growing concerns over what it sees as a threat to its national security. At the same time Russia is transitioning to a market economy, with the aim of becoming a free trade partner with the West. The question of concern to European nations is; how...

As time passes, renewable resource scarcities are becoming more common throughout the world. There is increasing evidence that these scarcities are a causal factor in civil unrest and violent conflict, especially in developing countries. We present a simple model of renewable resource dynamics,...

For more than ten years, formerly centrally-planned economies of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) have endeavoured to redress their environmental problems. For most CEE countries, the record of accomplishments is mixed. One of the least successful areas of reform has been cleanup and restoration...

The signaling theory of advertising predicts that levels of dissipative advertising may be used by a firm to signal to consumers the quality level of its products. This paper develops such a theory within a durable goods framework. It is shown that, subject to refinements of beliefs, the model...

We extend the economic theory of regulation to allow for strategic self-regulation that preempts political action. When political "entry" is costly for consumer, firms can deter it through voluntary restraints. Unlike standard entry models, deterrence is achieved by over-investing to raise the...

An increasingly popular instrument for solving environmental problems is the "public voluntary agreement (VA)", in which government offers modest technical assistance and positive publicity to firms that reach certain environmental goals. Prior papers treat such agreements as a superior,...