J. Fish Smith Professor in Public Choice at Utah State University's Jon M. Huntsman School of Business. Research Director of the Independent Institute. Editor in Chief of Public Choice (2005-2022). Past President of the Southern Economic Association and the Public Choice Society. Research fellow of the Antonin Scalia Law School’s Law and Economics Center and a fellow of the Public Choice and Public Policy Project at the American Institute for Economic Research
Due to the character of the original source materials and the nature of batch digitization, quali... more Due to the character of the original source materials and the nature of batch digitization, quality control issues may be present in this document. Please report any quality issues you encounter to digital@library.tamu.edu, referencing the URI of the item.Not availabl
This Handbook provides students, researchers, practitioners and policymakers with summaries of th... more This Handbook provides students, researchers, practitioners and policymakers with summaries of the cutting-edge approaches to the analysis of the decision-making challenges faced by the managers of for-profit and nonprofit enterprises.The problems addressed run the gamut from cost estimation, product development and promotion, optimal pricing strategies for so-called network industries and make-or-buy decisions, to organizational design, performance pay, corporate governance, strategies for multinational corporations and the social responsibilities of business.By illustrating how a wide range of disciplines can fruitfully be brought to bear in helping to analyze and to understand the incentives and constraints under which business managers operate, the Handbook fills in the gaps between theory and practice. Sometimes technical, but always reader-friendly, no one with an interest in the modern world of business orpublic policies toward it can afford to ignore the analyses and important lessons presented by the contributors to this first handbook on topics in managerial economics.
Objective: To identify how consumption of 12 goods – alcohol, cigarettes, fast food, items sold a... more Objective: To identify how consumption of 12 goods – alcohol, cigarettes, fast food, items sold at vending machines, purchases of food away from home, cookies, cakes, chips, candy, donuts, bacon, and carbonated soft drinks – varies across the income distribution by calculating their income-expenditure elasticites. Design and Methods: Data on 20,040 households from 2009-2012 from the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Consumer Expenditure Survey were used. The data were analyzed using ordinary least squares regressions and Cragg’s double hurdle model which integrates (i) a binary model to determine the decision to consume and (ii) a truncated normal model to estimate the effects for conditional (y > 0) consumption.Results: Income had the greatest effect on expenditures for alcohol (0.314), food away from home (0.295), and fast food (0.284). A one percentage-point increase in income (approximately $428 at the mean) translated into a 0.314 percentage-point increase in spending on alcoholic beverages (approximately $1 annually at the mean). Income had the smallest influence on tobacco expenditures (0.007) and donut expenditures (-0.009). Conclusion: Percentage of a household’s discretionary budget spent on the studied goods falls substantially as income gets larger. Policies targeting the consumption of such goods will disproportionately impact lower-income households.
ABSTRACT The second amendment of the US constitution is often interpreted by lawyers as a way of ... more ABSTRACT The second amendment of the US constitution is often interpreted by lawyers as a way of reducing the state monopoly on coercive power. We model a state trying to corner the market for coercive power. This state faces potential entrants (empowered by the second amendment) who are trying to reduce the market power of the state. We use this contestable markets approach to show that even with the second amendment the state can wield a monopoly on coercive power. This suggests that the role of the second amendment as a bulwark against a rapacious state may be a romantic fantasy – albeit one that the US Supreme Court seems to have bought into.
Part One Decision Making Tools: Demand Theory and Analysis Production and Cost in the Long Run Pr... more Part One Decision Making Tools: Demand Theory and Analysis Production and Cost in the Long Run Production and Cost in the Short Run Product Pricing and Profit Analysis Price Discrimination: Exploiting Information about Demand. Part Two Decision Making in the Firm: The Boundaries of the Firm The Firm and its Rivals Topics in the Pricing of Products and Resources Strategic Management Decisions Managing Quality. Part Three The Organizational Structure of the Firm: Make-or-Buy Decisions: The Economic Theory of Vertical Integration Make-or-Buy Decisions: Contractual Alternatives to Ownership Integration The Internal Structure of the Firm The Financial Structure of the Firm Managing the Non Traditional Firm. Part Four Government and Business: Private Markets and Public Policy Antitrust and Regulation.
Due to the character of the original source materials and the nature of batch digitization, quali... more Due to the character of the original source materials and the nature of batch digitization, quality control issues may be present in this document. Please report any quality issues you encounter to digital@library.tamu.edu, referencing the URI of the item.Not availabl
This Handbook provides students, researchers, practitioners and policymakers with summaries of th... more This Handbook provides students, researchers, practitioners and policymakers with summaries of the cutting-edge approaches to the analysis of the decision-making challenges faced by the managers of for-profit and nonprofit enterprises.The problems addressed run the gamut from cost estimation, product development and promotion, optimal pricing strategies for so-called network industries and make-or-buy decisions, to organizational design, performance pay, corporate governance, strategies for multinational corporations and the social responsibilities of business.By illustrating how a wide range of disciplines can fruitfully be brought to bear in helping to analyze and to understand the incentives and constraints under which business managers operate, the Handbook fills in the gaps between theory and practice. Sometimes technical, but always reader-friendly, no one with an interest in the modern world of business orpublic policies toward it can afford to ignore the analyses and important lessons presented by the contributors to this first handbook on topics in managerial economics.
Objective: To identify how consumption of 12 goods – alcohol, cigarettes, fast food, items sold a... more Objective: To identify how consumption of 12 goods – alcohol, cigarettes, fast food, items sold at vending machines, purchases of food away from home, cookies, cakes, chips, candy, donuts, bacon, and carbonated soft drinks – varies across the income distribution by calculating their income-expenditure elasticites. Design and Methods: Data on 20,040 households from 2009-2012 from the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Consumer Expenditure Survey were used. The data were analyzed using ordinary least squares regressions and Cragg’s double hurdle model which integrates (i) a binary model to determine the decision to consume and (ii) a truncated normal model to estimate the effects for conditional (y > 0) consumption.Results: Income had the greatest effect on expenditures for alcohol (0.314), food away from home (0.295), and fast food (0.284). A one percentage-point increase in income (approximately $428 at the mean) translated into a 0.314 percentage-point increase in spending on alcoholic beverages (approximately $1 annually at the mean). Income had the smallest influence on tobacco expenditures (0.007) and donut expenditures (-0.009). Conclusion: Percentage of a household’s discretionary budget spent on the studied goods falls substantially as income gets larger. Policies targeting the consumption of such goods will disproportionately impact lower-income households.
ABSTRACT The second amendment of the US constitution is often interpreted by lawyers as a way of ... more ABSTRACT The second amendment of the US constitution is often interpreted by lawyers as a way of reducing the state monopoly on coercive power. We model a state trying to corner the market for coercive power. This state faces potential entrants (empowered by the second amendment) who are trying to reduce the market power of the state. We use this contestable markets approach to show that even with the second amendment the state can wield a monopoly on coercive power. This suggests that the role of the second amendment as a bulwark against a rapacious state may be a romantic fantasy – albeit one that the US Supreme Court seems to have bought into.
Part One Decision Making Tools: Demand Theory and Analysis Production and Cost in the Long Run Pr... more Part One Decision Making Tools: Demand Theory and Analysis Production and Cost in the Long Run Production and Cost in the Short Run Product Pricing and Profit Analysis Price Discrimination: Exploiting Information about Demand. Part Two Decision Making in the Firm: The Boundaries of the Firm The Firm and its Rivals Topics in the Pricing of Products and Resources Strategic Management Decisions Managing Quality. Part Three The Organizational Structure of the Firm: Make-or-Buy Decisions: The Economic Theory of Vertical Integration Make-or-Buy Decisions: Contractual Alternatives to Ownership Integration The Internal Structure of the Firm The Financial Structure of the Firm Managing the Non Traditional Firm. Part Four Government and Business: Private Markets and Public Policy Antitrust and Regulation.
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