I compare the price elasticity of economic and political preferences. My central hypothesis is that willingness to pay, whether expressed verbally or through cash transactions, is more price-elastic for economic consumption goods than for public goods. I ...

Johannesson et al.(1996) conjecture that in a coercive, uniform tax setting like dichotomous choice contingent valuation, willingness to pay for public programs would be affected by altruistic consideration of the costs imposed on others. Using a voting-BDM elicitation mechanism, we demonstrate...

In several major deregulated electricity generation markets, the market operator uses an "automatic mitigation procedure" (AMP) to attempt to suppress the exercise of market power. A leading type of AMP compares the offer price from each generation unit with a recent historical average of...

Producers of many commodities pay for generic advertising, which is a public good for producers and, in cases like healthy foods, enhances social welfare. Though most programs were initially funded through the Voluntary Contribution Mechanism, many became mandatory to mitigate free riding. This...