We specify an oligopoly game, where firms choose quantity in order to maximise profits, that is strategically equivalent to a standard Tullock rent-seeking game. We then show that the Tullock game may be interpreted as an oligopsonistic market for influence.Alternative specifications of the...

Recent literature has examined the problem facing decisionmakers with bounded awareness, who may be unaware of some states of nature. A ques- tion that naturally arises here is whether a value of awareness (VOA), anal- ogous to VOI, can be attributed to changes in awareness.In this note it is...

We provide a very different way to think about how consensus may arise. We deliberately skimp on the micro-processes of persuasion usually emphasized in constructivist accounts, instead highlighting the structural aspects of the cross-national networks through which experts communicate with each...

Insurance contracts are frequently modelled as principal--agent relationships. Although it is commonly assumed that the principal, in this case the insurer, has complete freedom to design the contract, the problem formulation in much of the principal--agent literature presumes that the contract...

We consider conditions under which the representation of the world available to a boundedly rational decision-maker, whose awareness in- creases over time, constitutes an adequate `small world' (in the sense of Savage 1954) for the assessment of a given decision. Equivalently, we consider...

Economic policy debate in Australia is dominated by the belief that the nation’s economy experienced a surge in productivity in the mid-1990s. The surge is attributed to programs of microeconomic reform that began in earnest with the floating of the dollar in 1983. It was particularly welcomed...

In this article we model production technology in a state-contingent framework. Our model analyzes production under uncertainty without regard to the nature of producer risk preferences. In our model producers? risk preferences are captured by the risk-neutral probabilities they assign to the...

The central common feature of a number of recent technological developments (collectively referred to as Web 2.0) is collaborative production of content on an amateur basis, that is, for motives other than commercial reward. Amateur production of content generates significant external benefits...

It is likely that climate change will be associated with reductions in inflows of water to the Murray–Darling Basin In this paper, we analyse the effects of climate change in the Murray–Darling Basin, using a simulation model that incorporates a state-contingent representation of...

Most settled parts of Australia, notably including the Murray-Darling Basin, experience low and highly variable rainfall levels. Both medium-term cycles such as the Southern Oscillation and longer term climate change contribute uncertainty in additional to that arising from seasonal...