We show in this paper that efficiency requires that fines be used to the maximum extent possible relative to increased enforcement. While there is a political limit to how far this process should be pushed, in times of budget stress there could be justification for increased reliance on fines...

We describe how to usefully incorporate inventory holding behavior into supply and demand as usually presented in undergraduate economics courses. The approach taken adds considerable realism that will appeal to certain students of economics

The standard textbook description of relationship between the LRMC and the SRMC for output levels below the optimum for a particular plant size is typically misleading and imprecise. Students are frequently confused as to how the SRMC can ever be below the LRMC since everything is variable in...

The burden of taxation is usually discussed in terms of elasticity of demand and supply. We show here that, at least for many students, merely using the slopes of demand and supply to yield the same conclusions will be more intuitively satisfying

There is no abstract for this paper, but what it establishes is that a first-best policy intervention would set optimal mandatory deposits on automobiles. Moreover, a littering fine for abandonment of automobiles is seen to be second-best, either with or without a mandatory deposit, leading to...

A model of the optimal speed limit is developed which explicitly recognizes the role of average speed, speed variance, and the level of enforcement. An unusual result emerges, namely that a higher speed limit may be optimal when reducing the variance in highway speeds reduces accident externalities

After an extensive discussion of the nature of the interactions among unions, corporations, and government, we find that government in granting privileges to workers organized into unions implicitly taxes capital formation. The result has been to lessen the attention business decisions pay to...

Mandatory deposits on beverage containers have received enthusiastic support among environmentalists as a means of controlling litter. In modeling the effects of a deposit on litter generation and recovery it is found that this enthusiasm is well justified. Interestingly enough, few supporters...