This paper's goal is to construct a positive theory of economic fairness. Using the theoretical schema developed by Hurwicz and others, the paper makes precise the notions of an “institution,” “fairness fraiming,” and “institutional framing.” Four fairness propositions yield an...

Review of: Local Justice in Amerika. Ed. by Jon Elster. 1996. Russel Sage Foundation: New York

This note analyzes the ancient "gold plating" or "rate base padding" issue. It is shown that padding is profitable for the regulated firm only if it pursues certain expansion paths, and only if it has exhausted all positive-income-producing investment opportunities and must resort to...