This note looks at Smith's critiques of bounties (read "subsidies") on exports. Smith's analysis of bounties foreshadowed the basic trade policy framework of distortions and noneconomic objectives. While Smith did not develop the theory of distortions, he captured the logic of the theory of...

Recent interest in convergence raises questions in the history of thought concerning the origins of the concern over convergence. The authors find that, in the classical period, interest in convergence centered around the connection between the growth of neighboring countries and one's own...

Smith uses his analysis of bounties to form one aspect of his overall critique of the mercantile system. He stresses the fact that the system of bounties has not promoted the development of the English economy. However, Smith also stresses that, as destructive as the system of export bounties is...

Urban economists have long recognized that space is economically important. Evidence of the importance of urban agglomeration and the offsetting effects of congestion are provided in a number of studies of productivity and wages. Little attention has been paid to this evidence in the economic...

Two fundamental issues have been ignored in the convergence debate which are addressed in this paper. First, there has been little attention paid to the development of a general model able to explain convergence a divergence. Second, in the rush to put data to a convergence hypothesis,...

This paper develops an economic analysis of infidelity concentrating on the question of how cheating behavior differs between men and women. We develop an expected utility model that borrows from evolutionary biology to form expectations regarding behavior towards infidelity. We use U.S. data...