In using their citizen candidate framework, Besley and Coate (2001) fi nd that if citizen candidates with sufficiently extreme preferences are available, lobbying has no in fluence on equilibrium policy. I show that this result does not hold in a model with ideological parties instead of citizen...

We conduct an experiment to examine the role of retribution and deterrence in motivating third party punishment. In particular, we consider how the role of these two motives may differ according to whether a third party is a group or an individual. In a one-shot prisoner’s dilemma game with...

This paper examines both the strengths and weaknesses of the Group of Twenty (G-20) from the perspective of input and output legitimacy. Notwithstanding some initial successes the constraints with respect to “output” have become more acute. Moreover, the “input” legitimacy of the G-20...

We s tudy minimum cost spanning tree problems for a given set of users connected to a source. We propose a rule of sharing such that each user may pay her cost for such a tree plus an additional amount to the others users . A reduction of her cost appears as a compensation from the other users....

We explore the problem of distributing a group of indivisible objects, some of which incorporate a primitive assignment of use, or tenancy right. Within this framework we analyze the existence of rules always selecting an ex-ante efficient allocation, conditioned to a preservation of the...

What makes a decision strategic? When is strategy most important? This paper studies the structure and value of strategy (in its everyday sense), starting from a (functional) definition of strategy as 'the smallest set of (core) choices to optimally guide the other choices.' This definition...

Indivisibilities are at the core of economic theory as rarely individuals can or want to limitlessly divide goods, inputs and activities, as well as related economic phenomena such as economies of scale, externalities and public goods. Indivisibilities help in explaining conflicts over social...

This paper proposes a theoretical explanation for the incremental integration path of Europe until the Monetary Union time. The dynamic partition function game suggests that the presence of externalities across coalitions affects the timing of admission of different players, the equilibrium...

Energy and climate policy drive large scale integration of distributed generation and demand side management, with massive consequences for distribution grids. New technologies and actors shape the transformation of electricity networks towards smart systems. We argue that future regulation of...