Optimal distortions for the agricultural sector are calculated taking as given distortions in the nonagricultural sector. The calculations use a general equilibrium model and assume that the sole criterion is economic efficiency. For most agricultural commodities, existing distortions should be...

We analyze a model in which a government uses a second best policy to affect the reallocation of labor, following a change in relative prices. We consider two extreme cases, in which the government has either unlimited or negligible ability to commit to future actions. We explain why the ability...

We model the situation where two large countries impose either tariffs or quotas and a third large country remains passive. The introduction of the third country overturns results from two-country models. Stable quota equilibria are capable of reproducing the equilibrium price under tariffs, and...

Partial cooperation in setting trade policy may be worse than no cooperation for countries who form a customs union. The paper investigates three situations where this is likely to occur. First, if the countries forming the union comprise too small a percentage of the non-competitive sector of...

Intergenerational altruism and contemporaneous cooperation are both important to the provision of long-lived public goods. Equilibrium climate protection may depend more sensitively on either of these considerations, depending on the type of policy rule one examines. This conclusion is based on...

We develop a generalized maximum entropy estimator that can estimate pure and mixed strategies subject to restrictions from game theory. This method avoids distributional assumptions and is consistent and efficient. We demonstrate this method by estimating the mixed strategies of duopolistic...

“Prices versus quantities” (Weitzman 1974), a hugely influential paper, is widely cited (and taught) in current debates about the best policy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The paper’s criterion for ranking policies suggests that technological uncertainty favors taxes over cap and...

We compare the instantaneous and the long run effects of environmental reform in closed and open economies. Harmonization upward (decreasing distortions where they are most severe) or harmonization downward (increasing distortions where they are less severe), both tend to increase instantaneous...

The amount of cooperation needed to improve the welfare of signatories of International Environmental Agreements (IEAs), in the presence of market imperfections, depends on the characteristics of pollution. In a dynamic model, the conventional wisdom on the effect of free-riding needs to be...