Standard economic theory states that regulation by price is more efficient than regulation by command and control. Exceptions may arise if regulators have good knowledge of the supply curve. In practice, though, governments usually regulate by command and control and do so when there is...

Consider a public project which produces a consumption good and which benefits future generations. Let a conventional cost-benefit analysis find that it gives higher benelits than projects it would displace in the private sector. Voters may nevertheless oppose the public project. The cause of...

A large literature demonstrates that congestion tolls can increase aggregate welfare. Nevertheless, congestion tolls are rarely observed. And though road tolls are imposed to raise revenue (as on bridges, tunnels, and some highways), almost always the tolls are imposed on the faster of several...

Consider team production with two people. Each is characterized by a prior distribution that he will do Right or Wrong. After the outcome of the project is observed, these probabilities are updated. When output depends on the weakest link in production, following project failure the posterior...

A current majority in some city, seeking to increase the probability that it will set policy in the following period, may initially adopt extremist policies that are particularly unattractive to the minority, leading some members of the minority to emigrate. This article develops a model to...