Analysts have considered what might check the 20th century growth in government, thereby avoiding Leviathan and economic collapse. We develop a model where political economy equilibrium pushes the economy to the brink of collapse, but rising marginal welfare costs may prevent collapse. For small...

This paper applies several fundamentals of the economics of organizations and principal-agent theory to the governance of schools, the use of teacher incentive pay, the performance of schools, and school reform efforts. We analyze schools as we do firms. We then focus on using the results to...

A feature of post-World War II economic history is the growth in government, paradoxically accompanied by a decline in trust of government. How does a mistrusted institution continue to grow? We utilize key findings in the economics, behavioral, and psychology literatures to develop a model to...

In the Journal of Political Economy, Rodrik (1998) finds a positive association between the openness of an economy and its government size. He explains this paradox by arguing that government expenditures are used to provide social insurance against the risk of terms of trade shocks that open...

This paper models the assignment of residual income claimancy to an R&D manager and applies the model to biotechnology firms. Residual income claimancy provides incentives for the manager to monitor the R&D process. Because the nature of R&D and of monitoring scientific effort is different, our...

School choice initiatives and charter schools have grown substantially in the past two and a half decades. Economists argue that this is a move toward more competition and should lead to improved school system performance. However, school choice and charter school enabling laws can be quite...

This paper analyzes firms' decisions to hire older workers. We model the role of pensions in backloading pay for specifically trained workers. We then evaluate the effects of imposing age discrimination rules and non-discriminatory fringe benefit rules and analyze the consequences for the firm's...

This essay outlines the big-picture aspects of capitalism and socialism, and uses this overview to discuss human liberty and economic liberty in each system. Additionally, I note that some have argued that capitalism is unfair or immoral and so I consider three specific and common moral...

Private companies have often mandated COVID-19 vaccines for employees, with workers facing vaccination or loss of their job. State legislatures have considered bills that limit private mandates. Is this anti- free enterprise? I conclude that private sector COVID-19 vaccine mandates can be...