Three months into the COVID-19 outbreak caused by a novel strain of coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2), the world is still in search of an effective therapeutic drug. Experimental drugs developed for other infections, such as Gilead's remdesivir, have been repurposed with unclear success. A recent small...

The appearance and spread of COVID-19 have accentuated the connectivity and digitization lag in Latin American and Caribbean countries. The lockdowns imposed to reduce the spread of the virus increased the demand for digital tools that would allow economic, educational, and social activities to...

The COVID-19 pandemic has exacted an extraordinarily high human toll throughout the country, imposing an almost unfathomable strain on its healthcare infrastructure and vast losses in terms of economic growth and employment. The failures of the federal government in its response to the pandemic...

This paper suggests that a mixture of measures may be needed to encourage renewable energy under the Kyoto Protocol. It explains that the goal of maximizing short term cost effectiveness tends to conflict with the goal of encouraging the long-term technological development that the world will...

At a time in which food taxes are causing controversy throughout Europe and discussed across the world, this article provides an analysis of the genesis, rationale, scientific evidence and legal implications stemming from the introduction of such fiscal schemes. By taking as a case study the...

This paper looks into various means of regulating pharmaceuticals and their effects on the structure of the international pharmaceutical industry. Regulation adds complexity to the activities of a firm. This complexity is multiplied, if different countries apply different sets of regulations....

National regulatory authorities (NRAs) attempt to encourage participation in spectrum assignments by enhancing entrants' likelihood of success. The question this study addresses is: Can NRA policy tools really affect the probability an entrant wins a 3G spectrum licence? In particular, the...

It is tricky to design local regulations on global externalities, especially so if firms are mobile. We show that when costs and outside options are firms’ private information, the threat of firm relocation leads to local regulations that are stricter, not looser. This result is general and...

This article summarizes and draws connections among diverse streams of theoretical and empirical research on the economics of privacy. We focus on the economic value and consequences of protecting and disclosing personal information, and on consumers' understanding and decisions regarding the...