A "dispersion" specifies the relative probability between any two elements of a finite domain. It thereby partitions the domain into equivalence classes separated by infinite relative probability. The paper's novelty is to numerically represent not only the order of the equivalence classes, but...

This paper offers two characterizations of the Kreps-Wilson concept of consistent beliefs. One is primarily of applied interest: beliefs are consistent iff they can be constructed by multiplying together vectors of monomials which induce the strategies. The other is primarily of conceptual...

Coase's seminal 1960 paper on externalities is associated with the so-called Coase Theorem which is stated in the literature in many forms. However, its main thrust was less to state a theorem than to challenge Pigou's earlier insistence on the need for government intervention through Pigouvian...

This paper focuses on the causes of increased wage inequality in OECD countries in recent years and its decomposition into the component factors of trade surges in low wage products and technological change that has preoccupied the trade and wages literature. It argues that the length of...

Today's standard model of monetary policy has aggregate demand responding directly to an interest rate under the central bank's control, and ignores the role played by the quantity of money in the transmission mechanism. Even though monetary policy is usually aimed at controlling price level...

Irving Fisher's encounter with the Quantity theory of Money began in the 1890s, during the debate about bimetallism, and reached its high point in 1911 with the publication of The Purchasing Power of Money. His most important refinement of the theory, derived from his recognition of bank...

We introduce three definitions. First, we let a "basement" be a set of nodes and actions that supports at least one assessment. Second, we derive from an arbitrary basement its implied "plausibility" (i.e. infinite-relative-likelihood) relation among the game's nodes. Third, we say that this...

We study cheap-talk pre-play communication in the static all-pay auctions. For the case of two bidders, all correlated and communication equilibria are payoff equivalent to the Nash equilibrium if there is no reserve price, or if it is commonly known that one bidder has a strictly higher value....

This paper studies the effects of health shocks on the demand for health insurance and annuities, precautionary saving, and the welfare implications of public policies in a simple life-cycle model. I show that when the health shock simultaneously increases health expenses and reduces longevity,...

This paper examines Robert E. Lucas's views on the relationship of macroeconomics to real world economic phenomena, and on Keynes's place in its history, suggesting that these stem from a particular and debatable understanding of how the subdiscipline has evolved. It considers some implications...