Economists believe that a problem of team production results from the desirability of production in (sometimes large) groups, the difficulty of rewarding individual group members based on their (difficult or impossible to measure) individual contributions, and the presumed interest of each...

The purpose of this project is to demonstrate that the economic analysis of the law should proceed from the notion that individuals form a spontaneous order in response to the institution of tort law, each other, and their environment. First, I address the methodological advantages of the...

Iain McGilchrist richly explains the right and left hemispheres of the brain, how each functions and what each tends to do. This paper serves, firstly, as a primer to McGilchrist’s fascinating exposition. Second, it offers a formulation that uses a spiral to structure the iterative and layered...

In this paper we revisit the case for methodological individualism for the positive analysis of political economy. We argue that the basis of methodological individualism implies neither a necessary commitment to atomistic reductionism in explaining social phenomena nor philosophical...

This paper compares and contrasts two schools of political economy: the Austrian School, prominent members of which include Friedrich Hayek and Ludwig von Mises; and the Bloomington School, which was founded by Elinor and Vincent Ostrom. It is argued that the two traditions share a good deal in...

Innovation policy is normally evaluated from the welfare perspective of market failure, and therefore focuses on social benefits. This paper adapts the Djankov et al. (2003) model of comparative social costs associated with any institution to analyse the specific institutions of innovation...

This research note performs some limited empirical assessments of the Baran and Sweezy (1966) contention that most research and development (R&D) efforts in the US are “wasted” at the macroeconomic level in that as R&D succeeds by absorbing a little of the excess economic surplus generated...

The article argues the neutral nature of markets. It describes the ways neutral markets expand or fold under the influence of non-neutral institutions. A demarcation is lined up between efficacy of a market process and a market result. The paper shows inconsistency of existing neoclassic models...

Although most economists model individual behavior using comparative statics, that approach ignores several important aspects of human action. How do we account for people having opposite responses to the same price change? How do changes in the market or other institutions affect what people...

This paper explores the problem of credible commitment that public officials face with regard to institutional reform. Doug North points out that while economies grow as a result of the provision of governance, I argue that creating an entity with a geographic monopoly simultaneously limits the...