The recognition that investment in human capital depends on its utilization (i.e., the number of hours it is used) is offered as an explanation of diverse phenomena such as of tourists' behavior, women's participation rate in the labor force, and the decline of investment in human capital with...

This paper offers an extention of the traditional approach to the analysis of taxation capable of explaining observations attributable to taxation which were not previously explicable. Underlying the change in approach are the premises that every commodity is composed of a set of characteristics...

Discusses the central role firms play in resolving the issue of the capturability of returns from innovation as mentioned in a set of papers. Description of an innovating firm; definition of the cost curve; illustration of a contract designed to increase the capturability from innovations

Under caveat emptor, buyers effect their measurements prior to exchange. Long-term relationships and contracts allow buyers to measure commodities at consumption. Buyers use subjective measurements in long-term relations. Contractual guarantees shift enforcement to the state, but require...

Contract stipulations tend to be subject to commodity standards. Standards make it clearer what transactors have agreed upon. They also bring stipulations from different contracts under a common denominator. The lower the cost of measuring an attribute and the wider the range of its application,...

We explore the relationship between voting rights and taxation in medieval England and France. We hypothesize that voting was a wealth-enhancing institution formed by the ruler in order to facilitate profitable joint projects with subjects. We predict when voting rights and tax payments will be...

We treat information acquisition by potential investors in initial public offerings as endogenous. With endogenous information, the critical question is why underwriters would allow investors to spend resources acquiring superior information intended solely to effect a wealth transfer. We show...

Contract stipulations tend to be subject to commodity standards. Standards make it clearer what transactors have agreed upon. They also bring stipulations from different contracts under a common denominator. The lower the cost of measuring an attribute and the wider the range of its application,...

We distinguish between discovery information and private foreknowledge in the valuation of initial public offerings of corporate securities. An underwriter gathers discovery information to value and price the issue. The issuing firm relies on this information to make the optimal investment...

Thirty years ago, "The Problem of Social Cost" (1960) was published. It transformed the field of industrial organization and greatly expanded its scope. The authors briefly survey the state of the field before 1960 and then show some of the ways by which Ronald Coase's paper changed economic...