the public choice of superior sanctions this paper analyzes the public choice of specific forms of sanctions current sanctions are essentially quantity constraints q sanctions which are like quotas in that they might bestow benefits on certain special interest groups in the target country revenue sanctions r sanctions may be able to recapture such benefits in the form of sender government revenue which could either compensate for the costs of sanctions to the sending country or finance other sanction enhancing activities aimed at the target country hence r sanctions may be superior to q sanctions in general or on the basis of target efficiency however public choice analysis suggests that q sanctions will generally be chosen over r sanctions by democratic countries

behind the life cycle of coal socio environmental liabilities of coal mining in cesar colombia abstract open pit coal mining in cesar colombia increased by 74 between 2000 and 2012 generating environmental and social damages unacknowledged by companies and the state this study aims to identify and value socio environmental liabilities from coal mining at different stages of the coal life cycle environmental liabilities can be operationalized under three types of responsibilities moral legal and economic the identification of environmental liabilities allocates moral responsibility the legal responsibility is needed for effective reparation and the economic valuation provides arguments to claim compensation seek remediation and mitigation of damages to identify socio environmental liabilities interviews were conducted and environmental mining conflicts were analyzed to estimate monetary values data were linked to existing literature on costs associated with damages results show that the economic values of socio environmental liabilities per ton of extracted and exported coal are higher than the market price of coal the main socio environmental liabilities arise from pollution local health deterioration water table depletion land and ecosystem services losses damages from transportation and shipping and coal reserve loss a comparison with studies in china and the united states indicates that values increase when other health impacts and climate change on a global scale are included

to value or not to value that is not the question abstract should we reject money when we value nature like most environmentalists ecological economists are increasingly divided on this question synthesizing political ecology with ecological economics we argue that this way of framing the question is limited we propose a reformulation of the question into when and how to value with money and under what conditions we recommend four criteria for a sound choice environmental improvement distributive justice and equality maintenance of plural value articulating institutions and confronting commodification under neo liberalism we call for due attention to the socio political context within which a valuation is placed and the political goals it serves the relevance of this framework is demonstrated by applying it to three practical cases pollution damages water pricing and payments for ecosystem services

the pretence of knowledge lecture to the memory of alfred nobel december 11 1974 this abstract was borrowed from another version of this item

pass through and consumer search an empirical analysis retail price pass through is one of the most important issues facing manufacturers of consumer packaged goods although retailers tend to pass higher wholesale prices through to consumers quickly and completely they often do not pass on trade promotions currently asymmetric pass through is commonly thought to result from retailers exercise of market power alternatively it may be because of consumer search behavior and retailers competitive response we test this theory using a panel threshold asymmetric error correction model applied to wholesale and retail scanner data for ready to eat cereal for a number of retailers in the los angeles metropolitan market we find that consumer search behavior contributes significantly to imperfect pass through by allowing pass through to depend on market power and consumer search costs we find results that are contrary to the conventional wisdom namely market power causes retail prices to fall quickly and rise slowly whereas consumer search behavior causes retail prices to rise quickly and fall slowly precisely the rockets and feathers phenomenon

the endogenous public choice theorist public choice theory has effectively explored defects in collective action and political processes however little attention has been given to the fact that any recommendations as to how to improve the situation can only be realized on the basis of precisely those defective institutions what turns up here can be identified as a problem of self reference normative contributions by buchanan and hayek may serve as an example in order to clear up the seemingly paradoxical situation endogenization of the public choice theorist within an extended theory is suggested a straight forward extension is briefly outlined

managing channel profits a channel of distribution consists of different channel members each having his own decision variables however each channel member s decisions do affect the other channel members profits and as a consequence actions a lack of coordination of these decisions can lead to undesirable consequences for example in the simple manufacturer retailer consumer channel uncoordinated and independent channel members decisions over margins result in a higher price paid by the consumer than if those decisions were coordinated in addition the ensuing suboptimal volume leads to lower profits for both the manufacturer and the retailer this paper explores the problems inherent in channel coordination we address the following questions what is the effect of channel coordination what causes a lack of coordination in the channel how difficult is it to achieve channel coordination what mechanisms exist which can achieve channel coordination what are the strengths and weaknesses of these mechanism what is the role of nonprice variables e g manufacturer advertising retailer shelf space in coordination does the lack of coordination affect normative implications from in store experimentation can quantity discounts be a coordination mechanism are some marketing practices actually disguised quantity discounts we review the literature and present a simple formulation illustrating the roots of the coordination problem we then derive the form of the quantity discount schedule that results in optimum channel profits this article was originally published in marketing science volume 2 issue 3 pages 239 272 in 1983

can sustainable consumption be learned a model of cultural evolution abstract this paper shows how sustainable consumption patterns can spread within a population via processes of social learning even though a strong individual learning bias may favor environmentally harmful products we present a model depicting how the biased transmission of different behaviors via individual and social learning influences agents consumption behavior the underlying learning biases can be traced back to evolved cognitive dispositions challenging the vision of a permanent transition toward sustainability we argue that green consumption patterns are not self reinforcing and cannot be locked in permanently

limits to institutional reforms the essay draws on the theory of macro economic policy as it has evolved to discuss implicit policy determinism in the new economics of institutions the extension of rational choice methods to new levels of analysis such as micropolitics macropolitics political macroeconomics and microfoundations of cooperation has apparently reduced the policy choice set and diminished the role of experts all outcomes reflect constrained maximization by rational agents the essay argues however that scarcity of knowledge leads to incomplete and variable policy models and that competition among policy models creates a role for experts in social change

can a low carbon energy transition be sustained in post fukushima japan assessing the varying impacts of exogenous shocks abstract in the aftermath of the fukushima nuclear crisis japan began contemplating energy policy reforms that drew inspiration from low carbon research this article focuses on a question central to advancing low carbon research in japan and elsewhere namely how does an exogenous shock affect the onset magnitude and permanence of changes in electricity consumption the article employs intervention analysis with an autoregressive moving average arma model to answer this question the data analysis reveals that post fukushima electricity use underwent a sudden significant and sustained reduction across japan the shock not only affected the tokyo electric power company tepco coverage area but the more distant kansai electric power company kepco coverage area large electricity users responded with an immediate and significant reduction in electricity consumption that rebounded to below pre crisis levels households responded more gradually with no rebound two of the more interesting results from the data analysis the persistence in reductions in the more distant kepco coverage area and the rebound among large users are then explained with a review of survey data and policy trends overall the quantitative and qualitative evidence suggests that an exogenous shock may give rise to a reduction in electricity consumption but cannot sustain a low carbon transition

valuation languages along the coal chain from colombia to the netherlands and to turkey environmental goods and bads are accumulated and unequally distributed along the coal supply chain producing environmental injustices where actors deployed values and representations of coal to either resist or legitimize its extraction and consumption this paper analyzes those valuation languages along the coal chain and their relationships with the territory where coal is extracted and burned the paper examines and compares the coal chains between colombia netherlands and colombia turkey assessing the various dimensions of the ecological distribution conflicts the coal chain is analyzed through different layers and scales to identify the valuation languages along both coal chains semi structured interviews and secondary data analysis were conducted discourse analysis methodologies were used to determine the frequency and relevance of the valuation languages results show that multiple valuation languages appear which are peculiar to each country and to the economic and political contexts in which the different stages of coal chain are embedded environmental justice actions taken along the coal chain with the focus on acknowledging these multiple valuation languages are also discussed in conclusion the analysis reveals that these actions depend on the willingness of social actors to give up or negotiate their valuation languages or on the power to impose them

technological diffusion and preference learning in the world of homo sustinens the challenges for politics abstract this article relates agents learning of a preference for a technology competition of technologies and their relative diffusion among potential adopters competitive interactions between two technologies are captured by an extended lotka volterra model to also incorporate preference learning on the part of potential adopters of these technologies we combine it with a model of cultural learning based on role model conformist and hedonistic learning our theoretical analysis is illustrated by a concrete example the competition between electric mobility and conventional forms of individual mobility the model enables an evaluation of specific policy instruments as to the promotion of sustainable technology

a price discrimination model of trade promotions critics have long faulted the wide spread practice of trade promotions as wasteful it has been estimated that this practice adds up to 100 billion worth of inventory to the distribution system yet the practice continues in this paper we propose a price discrimination model of trade promotions we show that in a distribution channel characterized by a dominant retailer a manufacturer has incentives to price discriminate between the dominant retailer and smaller independents while offering all retailers the same pricing policy price discrimination can be implemented through trade promotions because they induce different inventory ordering behaviors on the part of retailers differences in inventory holding costs have been shown to be an important determinant of consumer promotions our analysis suggests that differences in holding costs are also potentially an important driver for the use of trade promotions the implications from our model explain a number of anecdotal and or empirically observed puzzles about how trade promotions are practiced for example our analysis explains why chain stores welcome trade promotions but independents do not our analysis outlines implications for managing trade promotions

lock in vs critical masses industrial change under network externalities abstract where increasing returns to adoption play a role in the diffusion of a new technology technological lock in is now often claimed to occur however this result and the modeling approach that produces it are problematic further innovations could never have a chance of disseminating if lock in had occurred in the diffusion process of earlier innovations yet in reality industrial change does not come to a halt the paper offers a discussion of the apparent paradox from an alternative modeling approach conditions are derived under which a newly introduced technology can successfully disseminate in the market despite existing network externalities

the power to tax analytical foundations of a fiscal constitution preface 1 taxation in constitutional perspective 2 natural government a model of leviathan 3 constraints on base and rate structure 4 the taxation of commodities 5 taxation through time income taxes capital taxes and public debt 6 money creation and taxation 7 the disposition of public revenues 8 the domain of politics 9 open economy federalism and taxing authority 10 toward authentic tax reform prospects and prescriptions epilogue notes selected bibliography index

cross market network effect with asymmetric customer loyalty implications for competitive advantage a cross market network effect exists in many industries e g newspaper publishing media software in which a seller sells both a primary and a secondary product e g a newspaper publisher sells newspapers to readers and advertising space to advertisers and the value of the secondary product depends on the size of the user base of the primary product this paper examines the competitive implications of asymmetric customer loyalty in such markets in traditional markets an advantage in customer loyalty generates a profit advantage we show here however that in the presence of a cross market network effect a midlevel of loyalty advantage in the primary product market can lead to an overall profit disadvantage this surprising result is derived from the interdependence of the two markets whereby a profit in one market may be gained at the cost of the other and by the positive relationship between a larger loyalty segment and a higher opportunity cost of price competition in the product of the primary market extending our model to a two period entry game also shows that under certain conditions the entrant with disadvantage in customer loyalty can outperform the incumbent in profit and market share this result suggests that asymmetry in customer loyalty can be a source of first mover advantage or disadvantage

the magnitude of menu costs direct evidence from large u s supermarket chains we use store level data to document the exact process of changing prices and to directly measure menu costs at five multistore supermarket chains we show that changing prices in these establishments is a complex process requiring dozens of steps and a nontrivial amount of resources the menu costs average 105 887 year per store comprising 0 70 percent of revenues 35 2 percent of net margins and 0 52 price change these menu costs may be forming a barrier to price changes specifically 1 a supermarket chain facing higher menu costs due to item pricing laws that require a separate price tag on each item changes prices two and one half times less frequently than the other four chains 2 within this chain the prices of products exempt from the law are changed over three times more frequently than the products subject to the law in principle fixed costs of changing prices can be observed and measured in practice such costs take disparate forms in different firms and we have no data on their magnitude so the theory can be tested at best indirectly at worst not at all alan blinder 1991 p 90

weak comparability of values as a foundation for ecological economics the main argument of this paper is that weak comparability of values should be seen as one characteristic feature of ecological economics the formal properties of the concepts of strong comparability implying strong or weak commensurability and weak comparability implying incommensurability will be clarified multicriteria evaluation offers the methodological and mathematical tools to operationalize the concept of incommensurability at both macro and micro levels of analysis the concept of incommensurability of values already has a long tradition in economics moreover we will show that analytic philosophy theories of complexity post normal science and the recent theories of rationality lead with different trajectories to a non algorithmic approach which in our view could be implemented by some forms of multicriteria evaluation 1998 elsevier science b v all rights reserved

contractarian political economy and constitutional interpretation at the meetings in 1974 i presented a paper entitled a contractarian paradigm for applying economic theory printed 1975 in that paper along with others see my 1979 book i argued that our subject matter is centrally a science of exchange or a science of contract and that the exchange paradigm should take precedence over the maximizing paradigm this shift in the focus of positive inquiry carries normative implications conceptions such as aggregate efficiency in the allocation of resources become at best examples of functionalist error along with the more explicitly normative variants of the social welfare function the contractarian or catallactic approach to economic interaction suggests that systems or subsystems be evaluated in terms of the comparative ease or facility with which voluntary exchanges contracts or trades may be arranged between and among members of the community normative judgments take the form of statements that array better and worse processes rules laws institutions within which exchanges are allowed to take place these judgments are categorically distinct from those that array and evaluate results or outcomes this shift in normative political economy has implications for the issues of constitutional interpretation debated by legal scholars and philosophers these issues involve disputes along several related and intersecting dimensions between judicial activism and nonactivism between judicial deference to legislative authority and judicial independence between strict constructivism and pragmatism between original intent and legal environmentalism between teleological and deontological conceptions of law my purpose here is to discuss some of these contractarian implications for constitutional interpretation this is a limited purpose and i advance no direct and extended argument on either general philosophical issues or on points of debate in particular legal settings any identifiable contribution of the contractarian political economist must emerge from the differentially abstracted order that his perspective imposes on social reality section i covers the familiar distinction between an individualistic and a communitarian starting point the implication for legal interpretation of constitutional rules is almost self evident in section ii i again go over analysis developed elsewhere that extends the catallactic paradigm from the economy to the political order and in particular to the design selection and enforcement of constitutional rules section iii examines the implications for judicial interpretation of the political constitution and in particular the implications for the debate between strict constructivism and pragmatism and between original intent and legal environmentalism in section iv the argument is extended to the contractarian s stance in interpretative confrontation with rules that cannot find a logic in any contractarian ideal

research note the effects of costs and competition on slotting allowances we consider the optimal two part tariff contract between a manufacturer and a retailer we show that retail competition in the presence of either fixed costs or bargaining power may lead to slotting allowances in an optimal contract even with a monopoly manufacturer and no information asymmetry on the other hand slotting allowances do not arise with a monopoly retailer and no information asymmetry whether the manufacturer is a monopoly or not we also show that more intense retail competition higher retail bargaining power larger retailer fixed costs lower marginal costs of retailing as well as larger relative retailer size whether coming from a location or operating advantage have a positive impact on the incidence and the magnitude of slotting allowances the opposing effects of the fixed and marginal operating costs on slotting allowances as well as the impact of competition and bargaining power on profits underscore the importance of careful definitions of these variables in empirical research

dealing temporary price cuts by seller as a buyer discrimination mechanism this paper is concerned with temporary price cuts deals sales and specials as a mechanism for the seller to price discriminate between buyers with different intensities of demand we analyze why a seller offers such price cuts which buyers take advantage of them and what the parameters are that determine the amount and frequency of the discount offered in the remainder of this section we briefly review the literature on price deals 1 in section ii simple models of buyer and seller behavior are developed and we show why and how a seller adopts a dealing strategy section iii summarizes the key implications of the model and indicates how the price discrimination hypothesis could be tested in practice section iv suggests possible extensions of the model finally section v gives our conclusions in the marketing literature the issue of who is deal prone has been extensively researched an explanation for temporary price cuts usually called deals sales or specials is provided we hypothesize that they are a mechanism that discriminates between more intense and less intense demanders we further hypothesize a positive relationship between demand elasticity and holding costs buyers with more intense demand with high holding costs are those who will be buying the product at its regular price the low holdingcost buyers take advantage of deals by forward buying the model is applicable to three relationships 1 manufacturer reseller where the reseller may be a wholesaler or a retailer 2 resellerreseller for example wholesaler retailer and 3 retailer consumer we are grateful to michael mussa and albert madansky for their comments we also benefited from comments made by the marketing faculty of the wharton school at a seminar where an earlier version of this paper was presented neil beckwith in particular is acknowledged 1 for a more detailed review of deals and similar pricecutting mechanisms e g mail in rebates cents off labels coupons etc see narsimhan 1982 chan 2 journal of business 1985 vol 58 no 3 1985 by the university of chicago all rights reserved 0021 9398185 5803 0004 01 50

the commodification of nature and socio environmental resistance in ecuador an inventory of accumulation by dispossession cases 1980 2013 abstract this article aims to advance understanding of the relationship between social metabolism the commodification of nature local regime changes and patterns of resistance to accumulation by environmental dispossession during the most recent phase of global capitalism ecuador is a resource rich periphery country that has moved after 2007 from a neoliberal to a post neoliberal policy regime by analyzing 64 socio environmental resistance cases in the period 1980 2013 we focus on the continuities and changes in the relationship between environmental dispossession and resistance under the two regimes we find that while resistance to agri food projects has diminished having enjoyed some success under during the post neoliberal regime resistance to infrastructure and mineral extraction projects has remained steady with the impacts from environmental dispossession remaining much like those observed before 2007 at the same time major social investments financed through natural resource extraction and export combined with the introduction of constraints on the media and public assembly have created a political climate in which the resistance observed during the neo liberal period is now a socially deviant behavior

creating win win trade promotions theory and empirical analysis of scan back trade deals manufacturer trade promotion spending is second only to cost of goods sold as a profit and loss item yet manufacturers often lose money on these deals as a result of forward buying by retailers the search for more effective forms of trade promotion and the availability of scanners at cash registers has led to the emergence of a new type of trade deal the scan back that gives retailers a discount on unitssoldduring the promotion rather than on unitsbought we develop a theory to compare retailer pricing decisions and profitability under scan back and traditional off invoice trade deals we show that when the terms of the trade deal are identical retailers prefer off invoice trade deals and manufacturers prefer scan backs manufacturers can however redesign the scan back to leave the retailer weakly better off and leave themselves strictly better off using proprietary data from the beverage category we conduct an empirical analysis and find that during the promotion period scan back trade deals relative to off invoice deals 1 do not cause excess ordering and 2 generate higher retail sales through lower retail prices implications for researchers and managers are discussed