Researchers have raised two concerns about the current patent approval process by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). First, it takes too long to process applications. Second, examiners make too many errors in the approval process. The first concern suggests that examiners...

Recently, Batabyal et al. (2005) have used a queuing model to show that there is a tension between economic cost minimization and inspection stringency in invasive species management in the following sense: Greater (lesser) inspection stringency with a larger (smaller) number of inspectors leads...

The frequency with which a crop can be harvested on a cleared parcel of forest land (CPFL) before this land must be fallowed depends in part on the decision to use or not to use fertilizers to improve soil fertility. Therefore, we first construct a mathematical model of fertilizer use by a...

The number of times a crop can be harvested on a cleared parcel of forest land (CPFL) before this land must be fallowed is dependent on the decision to use or not to use fertilizers to enhance soil fertility. As such, we first construct a theoretical model of fertilizer use by a swidden...

Goods for which demand greatly exceeds supply are frequently allocated to citizens using queuing mechanisms. However, violence can occur either when queues are very long or when large numbers of citizens are not provided goods being allocated with queuing mechanisms. Hence, we use the theory of...

Psychologists, such as the Nobel Prize winner Daniel Kahneman, challenge the major assumptions of microeconomics: the rational pursuit of self-interest given unchanging tastes. These issues are explored through a questionnaire that may be distributed in class. How many of your students behave as...

Goods for which demand greatly exceeds supply are frequently allocated to citizens using queuing mechanisms. However, violence can occur either when queues are very long or when large numbers of citizens are not provided goods being allocated with queuing mechanisms. Hence, we use the theory of...

DeAngelo et al. (2006) have recently used the AWS criterion in a M/G/1 queuing model to show that there is no necessary tension between economic cost minimization and inspection stringency in non-native species management. In this paper, we use an alternate cost criterion (AWQ criterion) to...

In seminal contributions, Kahneman, Knetsch and Thaler (1986a, 1986b) introduce dictator games and questionnaires to investigate whether fairness constrains profit maximization. They find that fairness does matter in dividing monetary gains. This is important because standard microeconomic...

We conduct laboratory experiments to investigate the effects of deterrence mechanisms under controlled conditions. The effect of the expected cost of punishment of an individual's decision to engage in a proscribed activity and the effect of uncertainty on an individual's decision to commit a...