This paper modifies the standard tort model by introducing role-type uncertainty, that is, it is assumed that neither party knows in advance whether she will become the victim or the injurer when an accident occurs. When the standards of care of the two parties are assumed to be set at the...

The Concerns of Welfare Economics -- The Concerns of Social Choice Theory -- Practical Concerns of Welfare Economics and Social Choice Theory -- 1 Preferences and Utility -- Fundamental Assumptions -- Best Alternatives and Utility Functions -- The Formal Model of Preferences -- to Social...

Covers topics such as: models of economic exchange and production, uncertainty, optimality, public goods, social improvement criteria, life and death choices, majority voting, Arrow's theorem, and theories of implementation and mechanism design. This book aims to make value judgments about...

In this paper we provide a simple new version of Arrow’s impossibility theorem, in a world with only one preference profile. This theorem relies on a new assumption of preference diversity, and we explore alternative notions of preference diversity at length.

A growing body of literature suggests that courts and juries are inclined toward division of liability between two strictly non-negligent or "vigilant" parties. In this paper, we explore the economic efficiency of liability rules based on comparative vigilance. We devise rules that are efficient...