Previous analyses of fat taxes have generally worked within an empirical framework in which it is difficult to determine whether consumers benefit from the policy. This note outlines on simple means to determine whether consumers benefit from a fat tax by comparing the ratio of expenditures on the taxed good to the weight effect of the tax against the individual's willingness to pay for a one-p...

The welfare effect of advertising restrictions in the U.S. cigarette industry depends upon the impact of advertising on consumer and producer surplus, the transfer to consumers for being exposed to utility-reducing advertising, and smoking externalities. We estimate a demand equation and a supply relation simultaneously and use the parameter estimates to generate predictions of the impact of ad...

This article examines how the nature of competition between brands in a therapeutic category changes after generic entry and provide a framework for analyzing the effect of generic entry on consumer welfare that takes into account the generic free riding problem. It demonstrates that changes in competition along dimensions other than retail price--such as competition in research and development...

Competitive information revealed in a marketplace will have significant impact on the learning ability of the participating sellers across market sessions and therefore, on performance of the marketplace. The marketplace that we study in this paper has the following characteristics: a) Products transacted are custom-built – created specifically for a consumer and cannot be resold to other consu...

With the development of deregulated power systems and increase of prices in some hours of day and increase fuel price, demand response programs were noticed more by customers. demand response consists of a series of activities that governments or utilities design to change the amount or time of electric energy consumption, to achieve better social welfare or some times for maximizing the benefi...

Institutions have been shown to be important for trade and growth. In particular, weak institutions may reduce the returns to product quality, harming domestic welfare and making it attractive to export to countries with strong institutions where quality is better rewarded. We model this alternative story as to why the “good apples are shipped out” and explore whether exporting ameliorates the ...

Climate change induced alterations from historical patterns of precipitation, temperature, and atmospheric gases as well as increases in the frequency of extreme events is leading to alterations in global cereal production and its spatial distribution. Using a US agricultural sector model, we examine effects and acreage adaptation with an emphasis on wheat and the Pacific Northwest region. Use ...