Since the seminal work of Adam Smith, markets have been considered an efficienttool for co-ordinating the behaviour of economic agents. The basic characteristicof a market economy is that the complex system of interaction amongindividuals is not centrally coordinated. Under the assumption of...

Since the seminal work of Adam Smith, markets have been considered an efficient tool for co-ordinating the behaviour of economic agents. The basic characteristic of a market economy is that the complex system of interaction among individuals is not centrally coordinated. Under the assumption of...

The paper presents a political economy analysis of the present and future CAP reform induced under different policy scenarios regarding future EU enlargement and future WTO agreements. Theoretically, the analysis is based on a political exchange model suggested by HENNING (2000). Main results...

Over the past decade, the repressive legal and regulatory environment in transition economies has received considerable attention in the literature. In Russia, this framework has resulted in an environment in which rules and regulations govern almost all aspects of economic activity. The...

We develop a framework where economic agents choose between becoming productive entrepreneurs or re-distributive rent seekers. Rent seekers use economic resources to extract rents and thus their existence generates an inefficient economic outcome. We study the welfare impact of rent seeking...

This paper is concerned with welfare effects of self-regulation. It considers one group of heterogeneous producers modelling incentives they face when collectively deciding about production and trade of a commodity and employing a technology that take into account the trade-off between quality...

In this paper, we investigate factors affecting total household consumption and poverty in Uganda using household survey data. Our analysis indicates that household wellbeing can be improved by expanding education at all levels (primary, secondary, and university), expanding formal employment,...

Replaced with revised version of paper 12/15/05.

This paper studies the links between private politics, environmental performance of firms and regulatory activity by the government. Following the terminology coined by Baron (2001), "private politics" refers to the individual or collective actions initiated by public interest and activist...

It has been well documented in the literature that ethnicity matters significantly in the determination of savings. In particular, African-American savings lag far behind that of other ethnic groups. Similarly, the literature also provides evidence of the long-lived nature of institutions and...