This paper assesses the economic characteristics of the balance that federal law aims to achieve between the interests of paleontologists and amateur and commercial collectors of fossils on US federal lands. The objective function is taken to be the maximization of the social value of these...

Asset forfeiture laws allow the seizure of assets used in the commission of a crime. This paper examines the impact of such laws on deterrence by incorporating the possibility of asset forfeiture into the standard economic model of crime. When punishment is by a fine that can be optimally...

Throughout history, religious and political authorities have had a mysterious attraction to each other. Rulers have established state religions and adopted laws with religious origins, sometimes even claiming to have divine powers. We propose a political economy approach to theocracy, centered...

Previous studies have demonstrated that a multitude of options can lead to choice overload, reducing decision quality. Through controlled experiments, we examine sequential choice architectures that enable the choice set to remain large while potentially reducing the effect of choice overload. A...

Proponents of energy service companies (ESCOs) argue that these firms provide a crucial instrument for delivering improved energy efficiency in public and private sectors, thus contributing to carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions reduction around the world. Do ESCOs reduce CO2 emissions? To answer...

This paper examines the relationship between elected minority representatives, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, and health worker visits in rural India. We estimate the effect of minority representation on the frequency of visits to villages by health workers by exploiting the state...

Firms within a state, states within a country, and countries across the world are continuously striving to enhance their competitiveness in the present age of globalization. This paper defines competitiveness of a production unit as the relative cost of production per unit of output. Basic...

In this study, we attempt to identify the channels through which economic reforms enhanced the productivity growth in total manufacturing sector in India. Because one possible channel is better utilization of plant capacity, we estimate capacity utilization rate in Indian manufacturing....

Courts require royalty rate calculations based on rigorous economic foundations. The licensing literature provides limited guidance for royalty rate determination, leaving appraisal report readers wanting a more tangible and objective lens through which to understand and judge the credibility of...

Do in-cash and in-kind transfers to families affect parental fertility choices and economic welfare differently? We examine this question via a demographic transition channel in the context of a two-period overlapping generations model. In childhood, reproductive agents face a non-zero...