Economic Inquiry articles from January 2004

Economic Inquiry archives from January 2004

Standards and the form of agreement: 2002 Presidential Address Western Economic Association.
January 1, 2004... I. INTRODUCTION The use of standards in exchange agreements involves a great deal more than meeting some criteria or quality level. (1) Standards are necessary for communication, they facilitate trade, and their use economizes on the cost...

Ask prices, offers, and time to sale in an online exchange.
January 1, 2004... I. INTRODUCTION In this article, we consider the role served by the ask price posted by sellers in an online exchange for used computers. The functional role served by the ask price in this exchange is similar to that in other bilateral...

The value of life: estimates with risks by occupation and industry.
January 1, 2004... I. INTRODUCTION Economic values of a statistical life are now part of generally accepted economic methodology. The theoretical foundations dating back to Adam Smith's (1776) theory of compensating differentials are widely accepted. For...

Delivered pricing and merger with demand constraints.
January 1, 2004... I. INTRODUCTION Studies of merger activity in models of spatial price discrimination conventionally assume that pricing by firms is not constrained by demand. Instead, the only constraints on the discriminatory prices charged are the cost...

Arbitrator compromise in final offer arbitration: evidence from Major League Baseball.
January 1, 2004... I. INTRODUCTION The purpose of interest arbitration is to encourage two bargainers to reach a mutually agreeable settlement. In the event of impasse, an independent arbitrator determines the settlement. In conventional arbitration (CA),...

The good, the bad, and the regulator: an experimental test of two conditional audit schemes.
January 1, 2004... I. INTRODUCTION How can a regulatory agency achieve acceptable levels of compliance with its regulations at minimum cost of enforcement? This challenge confronts regulators in areas as diverse as tax collection, policing, customs and...

An examination of the asymmetric effects of money supply shocks in the pre-World War I and interwar periods.
January 1, 2004... I. INTRODUCTION Cover (1992) emphasizes that the empirical new classical literature on the effects of monetary policy shocks makes no distinction between positive and negative shocks; see, for example, Barro (1977, 1978) and Mishkin...

The "Law of One Price" in 1901.(economic law)
January 1, 2004... I. INTRODUCTION The "Law of One Price" states that absent search (information) costs, a particular good is sold at the same price by all sellers in the same market. As first pointed out by Stigler (1961), however, search costs can cause an...

Are branch banks better survivors? Evidence from the Depression era.
January 1, 2004... I. INTRODUCTION In recent years, branch banking has been promoted as a way of increasing the stability of the banking system. The reasoning is straightforward. Branching facilitates geographic diversification. Diversification in turn...

Finance and the sources of growth at various stages of economic development.
January 1, 2004... I. INTRODUCTION The effects of financial development on economic growth have been widely discussed in the academic literature. The increased availability of financial instruments and institutions reduces transaction and information costs...

Convergence in the OECD: transitional dynamics or narrowing steady-state differences?(Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development)
January 1, 2004... I. INTRODUCTION Research on growth and convergence has proceeded through several stages that can be described as a process of accommodating cross-country heterogeneity into the convergence equation. In the first stage, the world could be...

Endangered species and timber harvesting: the case of red-cockaded woodpeckers.(Endangered Species Act of 1973)
January 1, 2004... I. INTRODUCTION The issue of differentiating legitimate public regulation of private property from regulatory takings has become important and controversial in the United States. The Endangered Species Act (ESA), probably the most powerful...

Income, environmental disamenity, and toxic releases.
January 1, 2004... I. INTRODUCTION A body of literature now exists that suggests that geographic and geopolitical variation in pollution may be explained in part by variation in income. Summary articles of the key contributions to the literature include Esty...