The paper discusses salient features involved in the recently proliferating initiatives of regional economic integration, especially in transport infrastructure and trade facilitation. It first conceptualizes causal relationships among cross-border transport infrastructure, trade costs, trade...

This paper presents three approaches to the evaluation of cross-border transport infrastructure in the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS). First, it estimates benefit-cost ratios for selected segments of economic corridors. The results indicate differing degrees of economic viability among different...

Do democratically chosen rules lead to more cooperation and, hence, higher efficiency, than imposed rules? To discuss when such a "dividend of democracy" obtains, we review experimental studies in which material incentives remain stacked against cooperation (i.e., free-riding incentives prevail)...

Entrusting the power to punish to a central authority is a hallmark of civilization. We study a collective action dilemma in which self-interest should produce a sub-optimal outcome absent sanctions for non-cooperation. We then test experimentally whether subjects make the theoretically optimal...

The ability of groups to implement efficiency-enhancing institutions is emerging as a central theme of research in economics. This paper explores voting on a scheme of intergroup competition, which facilitates cooperation in a social dilemma situation. Experimental results show that the...