Economies of scale exist if long-run average costs decline as output rises. All else being equal, the decline in average costs should lead to greater profitability, making economies of scale attractive to businesses. Nobel laureate George Stigler recognized that economies of scale should help...

We show that, in competition between a developed country and a developing country over environmental standards and taxes, the developing country may have a ‘second-mover advantage.' In our model, firms do not unanimously prefer lower environmental-standard levels. We introduce this feature to...

We show that, in competition between a developed country and a developing country over environmental standards and taxes, the developing country may have a "second-mover advantage." In our model, firms do not unanimously prefer lower environmental-standard levels. We introduce this feature to an...

A computable model of economic and political competition is developed in which tax rates and the size of government are determined along with private prices and quantities in a broader equilibrium. The framework is applied to the United States by incorporating the GEMTAP model (with 19...

This chapter reviews the theory of the voluntary public and private redistribution of wealth elaborated by economic analysis in the last forty years or so. The central object of the theory is altruistic gift-giving, construed as benevolent voluntary redistribution of income or wealth. The theory...

It is difficult to value fractional interests in art because there is virtually no market in those interests. Nevertheless, the Tax Court in Estate of Elkins valued the decedent's fractional interests in multiple artworks, which the decedent and his children highly cherished. First, the court...

Command-and-control regulations are generally thought to be inferior to incentive-based alternatives. This essay proposes an incentive-based approach for regulating campaign finance. In place of our current regime of contribution ceilings, the essay calls for a graduated system of contribution...

Regulators can adjust penalties to compensate for incomplete monitoring of rule-governed regulated parties, but these adjustments often are unavailable when regulated parties are subject to legal standards. Incomplete monitoring consequently invites greater noncompliance under standards than...

Federal and state governments often differ in the capacity to pre-commit to expenditure and tax policy. Whether the implied sequence of public decisions has any efficiency implications is the subject of this paper. We resort to a setting which contrary to most of the literature does not exhibit...

Joseph Stiglitz shared the Nobel Prize in 2001 partly on the basis of an important paper of his (with Greenwald): "Externalities in Economies with Imperfect Information and Incomplete Markets." In that paper he says: "There exist government interventions (e.g., taxes and subsidies) that can make...