A country's political and economic institutions are critical for economic prosperity. The literature abounds with institutional measures, precisely because institutions are not one dimensional. We use panel-unit-root and cointegration tests to examine the time-series properties of several...

This paper investigates the political economy of FEMA after its post-9/11 merger with the Department of Homeland Security. Using panel data for the post-DHS merger but pre-Katrina period, we examine how FEMA's much-debated reorganization has impacted the strong political influences on disaster...

In this paper, we examine the resiliency of community recovery after a natural disaster. We argue that a resilient recovery requires robust economic/financial institutions, political/legal institutions, and social/cultural institutions. We explore how politically and privately created disaster...

In standard microeconomic theory, perfect price discrimination is socially efficient. However, this theory neglects that enacting price discrimination is costly to firms. We prove that when this costliness is accounted for, perfect price discrimination is often socially inefficient. Under linear...

We use public choice theory to explain the failure of FEMA and other governmental agencies to carry out effective disaster relief in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. The areas in which we focus are: (1) the tragedy of the anti-commons resulting from layered bureaucracy, (2) a type-two error policy...

While entrepreneurs benefit from unrestricted free entry into markets, they have a time-inconsistent incentive to lobby for government entry restrictions once they become successful. Bad political institutions yield to these demands, and growing barriers are placed on domestic and international...

Which states are the most paternalistic, in terms of telling you what you can and can't do? Which states tax individual choices like gambling, smoking, or using plastic bags most heavily? This chapter ranks the states according to how much their tax codes distort individual choices in private...

Previous literature stresses the importance of free media for economic development. By its nature TV, radio, and newspapers cross borders allowing citizens to easily sample media from neighboring countries. This creates pressure for domestic reform and spreads media freedom between countries....

We apply Leeson and Dean's (2009) method for studying democratic dominoes to capitalist spillovers to compare the rates at which capitalism and democracy spread between countries. We find that capitalism and democracy spread at approximately the same modest rate

Prior to 2003, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) was an independent agency with direct congressional oversight. But in the wake of the September 11th attacks, FEMA was integrated into the newly-formed Department of Homeland Security (DHS). This merger, which severed the...