A general theory of interpersonal exchange is developed from a public goods, public choice point of view and within an analytical context that assesses both the benefits and the costs of social interaction. Social transaction benefits and costs are specified as a composite function of...

This paper applies a common-agency model to demonstrate why recent enterprise reforms that assign the State Asset Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC) a greater role in running China's state-owned enterprises (SOEs) are apt to fail. In a theoretical framework, we show that local...

It is the purpose of this article to extend and to clarify the public goods approach to the study of alliances. In particular, the paper examines the nature of defense as a pure public good and draws the conclusion that some defense expenditure may be best classified as an impure public good due...

This article defends the collective goods theory of alliances by showing that club theory is an appropriate tool for analyzing allocative issues of alliances from a positive prospective. The article concludes with a demonstration that Oppenheimer made an analytical mistake when he questioned the...

This chapter surveys the past applications of game theory to the study of terrorism. By capturing the strategic interplay between terrorists and targeted governments, game theory is an appropriate methodology for investigating terrorism and counterterrorism. Game theory has been used to examine...

This chapter defines defense economics and indicates how it differs from other subfields of economics. The nature and topics of defense economics are presented. A brief history of the field is also reviewed. The current importance of defense economics in the post-cold war era is discussed....