The objective of this work is to create a comprehensive conceptual framework for informing the choice between firm-fixed price and cost-plus contract forms in acquisition or procurement contracts. The effects and relative magnitudes of quality and productivity incentives, economic profit,...

This paper examines whether fraud allegations affect firms' contracting with the government. Using a dataset of whistleblower allegations brought under the False Claims Act against firms accused of defrauding the government, we find that federal agencies do not reduce the total dollar volume of...

One of the more common rules in federal government procurement is that the Government may describe its needs to the private sector by specifying a “brand name” product, as long as the Government adds the words “or equal” to the brand name and articulates the product’s salient physical,...

The privatization literature depicts the choice whether to contract out as a tradeoff between excessive private investment in quality-reducing cost saving and inadequate public investment in cost-increasing quality improvement, under circumstances where neither the amount of investment nor the...

This Article sets forth the theory of an enduring, evolving separation of powers, one that checks and balances state power in whatever form that power happens to take. It shows how this constitutional commitment was first renewed and refashioned in the 1930s and 1940s, wherein the construction...

Organ transplant candidates are often denied life saving organs on account of their medical marijuana drug use. Individuals who smoke medicinal marijuana are typically classified as substance abusers, and ultimately deemed ineligible for transplantation, despite their receipt of the drug under...

A common argument against privatization is that private providers will self-interestedly lobby to increase the size of their market. In this Article, I evaluate this argument, using, as a case study, the argument against prison privatization based on the possibility that the private prison...

The President’s 2018 National Defense Strategy warns that the Department of Defense (DoD) is losing its technological edge. This isn’t new. Under the last two administrations, the DoD has sought to regain the lead by gaining dominance in fields such as robotics, artificial intelligence, and...

In this paper, we estimate the effect of defense spending on the U.S. macroeconomy since World War II. First, we construct a new panel dataset of state-level federal defense contracts. Second, we sum observations across states and, using the resulting time series, estimate the aggregate effect...