We study the cyclical effects of the timing of durable goods purchases in a general equilibrium model in which both durable and non-durable goods are consumed and the durable good is lumpy. At the microeconomic level, the timing of durable goods purchases supplies some insulation for nondurable consumption over the cycle. At the macroeconomic level, the timing decisions tend to amplify and prop...

Agricultural production is prone to several risks which affect both producers and consumers. In order to enhance investment and achieve a sustained increase in production, coherent and integrated long-term strategies and policies are required to reduce risk aversion and build resilience among African rural producers. Furthermore, the critical importance of social protection and its complementar...

Innovations can often be targeted to be more valuable for some consumers than others. This is especially true for digital information goods. We show that the traditional price system not only results in significant deadweight loss, but also provides incorrect incentives to the creators of these innovations. In contrast, we propose and analyze a profit-maximizing mechanism for bundles of digital...

The measurement of price changes, economic welfare, and demand parameters is currently based on three disjoint approaches: macroeconomic models derived from time-invariant utility functions, microeconomic estimation based on time-varying utility (demand) systems, and actual price and real output data constructed using formulas that di�er from either approach. The inconsistencies are so deep tha...

We develop a theoretical model to identify conditions under which price and income changes are most likely to change weight. Although it is intuitive that raising the price of high-calorie food will decrease consumption of such goods; it is not clear that such an outcome will actually reduce weight. Our empirical analysis demonstrates a case where a tax on food away from home, a food intake cat...

This article studies voting behavior on 16 environmental ballot propositions in California in order to characterize the demand for environmental goods. The environment is found to be a normal good for people with mean incomes, but some environmental goods are inferior for those with high incomes, at least when supplied collectively. An important ‘‘price’’ of environmental goods is reduced incom...

Agricultural and energy commodity prices have traditionally exhibited relatively low – even negative correlation. However, the recent increases in biofuel production have altered the agriculture-energy relationship in a fundamental way. The amount of corn utilized for ethanol production in the US has increased from 5% in 2001 to over one-third by the end of the decade. This increase has drawn c...

In the first section the paper describes the weak position held by Africa in the global trade of goods and identifies key determinants of the region’s industrial performance. It goes on to outline shifts in the overall structure of international trade and production, together with the challenges they pose for Africa. It analyses the reasons for low productivity rates, points to missed export op...