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We try to demonstrate how economists may engage in research on comparative politics, relating the size and composition of government spending to the political system. A Downsian model of electoral competition and forward-looking voting indicates that majoritarian -- as opposed to proportional --...
Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10012471964
Both conventional wisdom and leading academic research view pork barrel spending as antithetical to responsible policymaking in times of crisis. In this paper we present an alternative view. When agents are heterogeneous in their ideology and in their information about the economic situation,...
Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10012461990
We examine the optimal financing of infrastructure when governments have limited financial commitment and can expropriate rents from private sector firms that manage infrastructure. While private firms need incentives to implement projects well, governments need incentives to limit...
Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10013334350
Some public goods are provided entirely with private contributions, others with a mixture of public and private funding, and still others are entirely publicly funded. To explain this variation, a model of dual provision is developed that endogenizes public and private funding. Members of the...
Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10012470948
This paper studies the market provision of a specific type of public good: radio and television broadcasts. Its main focus is to explore the ability of the market to provide broadcasting efficiently in a world in which broadcasters earn revenues by selling time to advertisers and advertisements...
Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10012471263
their classmates do worse. The theory presented below reconciles all of these facts by recognizing that classroom teaching … ranges away from equilibrium levels will adversely affect educational output. The theory argues for a particular non … by lowering class size. The theory provides a measurable and operational way to define school quality that can be tested …
Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10012471435
This paper formulates a simple model of "perfect community competition." It is shown that (1) the equilibrium is Pareto optimal; (2) communities will, in general, be heterogeneous; not all individuals will have the same tastes; but (3) all individuals of a given skill within the community will...
Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10012478311
theory of law, our finding that the public courts do not automatically generate efficient rules is disappointing, since it … strongly influenced by economic considerations and explicable in economic terms, is evidence that economic theory has a major …
Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10012478886
Interest rates in major advanced economies have drifted down and in greater unison over the past few decades. A country's rate of interest can be thought of as reflecting movements in the global neutral rate of interest, the domestic neutral rate, and the stance of monetary policy. Only the...
Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10012480206
We examine the interplay between environmental policy instrument choice (i.e., prices vs. quantities) and private provision of public goods, which in this context we denote "Coasean provision." Coasean provision captures private provision of environmental public goods due to consumer preferences...
Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10012482349