In this note, we analyze a simple auction mechanism for locating noxious facilities such as hazardous waste dumps, prisons, and trash disposal plants. Specifically, we first delineate the details of our auction mechanism. Next, we solve for the symmetric equilibrium of this auction. Finally, we...

We analyze a market for microfinance in a region of a developing nation in which all projects are either of high or low quality. There is adverse selection because only borrowers know whether their project is of high or low quality but the microfinance institutions (MFIs) do not. The MFIs are...

We analyze the economic growth related effects of learning by doing in a region that is creative in the sense of Richard Florida. Firms in this region use physical and creative capital to produce output. We model learning by doing and our analysis of the working of this creative region leads to...

In this note we analyze a game of marital infidelity. The husband can either be faithful to or cheat on his wife. The wife can either monitor or not monitor her husband. We first determine the best response correspondences of the two players. Second, we explain why there is no pure-strategy Nash...

We first construct a theoretical model of tax evasion in a stylized developing country in which all taxpayers have either high or low income. The key problem is that the high income taxpayers may under report their income. An individual income tax return can only be verified with an audit that...

We analyze the activities of an entrepreneur who must, at each date, decide whether to search for a new production technique or to produce output with an extant technique. Our analysis leads to four results. First, we show that if our entrepreneur rejects a particular production technique at a...

We focus on the interaction between a male employee and his supervisor and analyze a game-theoretic model of sexual harassment in the workplace. The male employee is accused of sexually harassing a female employee and the supervisor's task is to gather evidence and then determine whether to...

Queuing mechanisms are commonly used in developing countries and in transition economies to allocate goods characterized by excess demand to citizens. Bribery and favoritism frequently accompany the use of such queuing mechanisms. Therefore, we first analyze a queuing model of resource...

Recently, Batabyal (2005) has analyzed a game model of dowry determination in which a mediator plays a key role. Batabyal's analysis shows that the equilibrium dowry offers from the bride and the groom optimally trade off the desire to make an assertive offer with the likelihood that this offer...

We study the effects of patent protection on economic growth in the ith region when this ith region is part of an aggregate economy of i=1,...,N regions. The regulatory authority in the ith region attempts to curtail the monopoly power of patent holding input producers by requiring them to...