A woman assessing the wealth of a potential husband may observe some, but not all, of his wealth. She may screen, leading to status consumption and wasteful gift giving. The screening activity is costly both for the potential husband, and for the woman, as it reduces the wealth of the man she...

This paper proposes a screening approach to explain why dating is associated with purchasing status products and conspicuous gift giving. A potential bride searching for a husband may seek to screen candidates whose income is only partially observable. Taking into account that she also bears...

A rich person who fears a loss of income may later favor redistributive taxation and a mix of taxes and public goods that differs from the one he now favors. If mobility is costly, and if government in each period uses majority voting to determine policy, then this person may prefer to live in a...

A woman assessing the wealth of a potential husband may observe some, but not all, of his wealth. She may screen, leading to status consumption and wasteful gift giving. The screening activity is costly not only for the potential husband, but also for the woman, as it reduces the wealth of the...

Consider a community with individuals who consume a private good and use a congestible facility. Without a congestion fee, use of the congestible facility will exceed the socially optimal level. We show that under some conditions this externality problem can be solved by income redistribution....

Properly specified pavement deterioration models are an important input for the efficient management of pavements, the allocation of cost responsibilities to various vehicle classes for their use of the highway system, and the design of pavement structures. However, most empirical deterioration...

Consider a community with individuals who consume a private good and use a congestible facility. Without a congestion fee, use of the congestible facility will exceed the socially optimal level. We show that under some conditions this externality problem can be solved by income redistribution....

A firm which lobbies government for a change in policy, say an import tariff, can increase its profits in two ways. First, the policy can increase the profits of all firms in the industry. This effect therefore involves a free-rider problem. Second, a firm's lobbying expenditures may signal...