Background: China's rapid economic transformation is similar in some ways to those that have occurred in other rapidly developing nations. Is the pattern in China the same? Methods: Cross-country macrodata are used to compare class self-identification transition in China with other similar...

Ethnic conflict has not been tested using economic theory, except its most extreme forms - violence and warfare. This paper adopts the newer economic approach to conflict to analyze ethnic conflict more broadly defined. The analysis is able for the first time to derive equilibrium discrimination...

This paper focuses on mandates, i.e., directives to lower levels of government to undertake specified activities. We examine the conditions under which mandates should be funded by the higher level government that issues them. An analytical framework is developed within which a funding rule for...

Many societies must confront the possibility that greater ethnic diversity will result in more ethnic tensions. Most approaches to ethnic identification either ignore the role of the state or treat it as either a leader or a pawn of the ruling ethnic group(s). This paper employs a rent-seeking...

This article tests the efficient-markets hypothesis by looking at profits in National Football League (NFL) betting markets. The author tests whether successful betting strategies exist when points scored and allowed earlier in a season can outperform the betting line in predicting the margin of...

The article models the upset—a low-probability outcome of a periodic competition. It is assumed that the upset is an independent component of consumer preferences, whose marginal willingness to pay grows with time. The decision rule for a league on upset timing is a competitive-balance problem...