The debate over the impact of regional trade agreements (RTAs) on world welfare hinges upon (1) whether they are net trade creating or trade diverting and (2) whether they impede multilateral trade liberalization. Theoretical models are ambiguous on these issues. We summarize the insights from...

Distributional equity concerns are often at least as important as economic efficiency and ecological sustainability in environmental and natural resource management policies. Until recently, however, economists have shied away from tackling equity issues, primarily because equity appeared as a...

We develop a agricultural model assuming that conventional production is causing environmental externalities while more benign alternative production methods generate non-market amenity benefits and obtain a price premium in the marketplace. We analyze policies targeting external benefits and...

Gift giving is thought to be welfare decreasing. This claim rests on two key assumptions, namely, full information as to the whereabouts of all goods and the ability to reach the stores that contain desired goods costlessly. In this paper, we replace these two assumptions with the more realistic...

The use of renewable materials in energy production is gaining in importance all over the world. The production of bioethanol and biodiesel is an important element of the agricultural strategy of numerous countries, even though the economic and environmental impact of these projects is subject...

The starting-point of the article is the inconsistency between the established practice of acceptance in many cases, of economic policy (i.e. progressive taxation, national insurance policies) and the theoretical rejection of interpersonal comparisons of utility who see it as an unscientific...

The nexus between income and happiness is very much disputed. Many cross-sectional studies seem to be in support of a positive relationship. Yet, the failure of most studies to find a similar link between increases in income through time and happiness in developed countries of the western...