This paper examines the effects of firm-level innovation in carbon-abatement technologies on optimal cap-and-trade schemes with and without price controls. We characterize optimal cap-and-trade regulation with price cap and price floor, and compare it to the special cases of pure taxation and simple emissions cap. Innovation shifts the tradeoff between priceand quantity-based instruments toward...

This is a survey of the field of economic analysis of law, focusing on the work of economists. The survey covers the three central areas of civil law — liability for accidents (tort law), property law, and contracts — as well as the litigation process and public enforcement of law. Forthcoming in A.J. Auerbach and M. Feldstein, Handbook of Public Economics JEL Classes K00, K10, K11, K12, K13, K...

From the first analysis of immunoprecipitation followed by Western Blotting (WB) Corin and Tumor Liberated Protein (TLP) seem to precipitate at the same height ( approximately 50KDa) and are recognized by the same antibodies. In parallel the tests of immunoprecipitation by the use of cell extracts derived from lung cancer cells A549 and NCI-H23 are improved with the aim to be able of obtaining ...

In this paper we study political-economy determinants of the differentiation of environmental taxes between sectors. Using a common-agency model, we provide predictions on tax differentiation which are then tested using data from the German Ecological Tax Reform. As the reform is revenue neutral and reduces labor costs, tax differentiation is not only determined by the activity of lobby groups ...

Because of the uncertainties and irreversibilities that are often inherent in environmental degradation, its prevention, and its economic consequences, environmental policy design can involve important problems of timing. I use a simple two-period model to illustrate these optimal timing problems and their implications for environmental policy. I then lay out and solve a continuous-time model o...

Does Money Burn Fat? Evidence from a Randomized Experiment We test whether financial incentives have an effect on weight reduction in a randomized controlled trial involving 700 obese persons assigned to three experimental groups. While two treatment groups obtain €150 and €300, respectively, for achieving an individually assigned target weight within four months, a control group receives no su...

Optimal policy rules—including those regarding income taxation, commodity taxation, public goods, and externalities—are typically derived in models with homogeneous preferences. This article reconsiders many central results for the case in which preferences for commodities, public goods, and externalities are heterogeneous. When preference differences are observable, standard second-best result...

This paper examines the amount of grandfathering needed for an emissions trading scheme (ETS) to have a neutral impact on firm profits. We provide a simple formula to calculate profit-neutral grandfathering in an asymmetric Cournot model with a general demand function. Using this formula, we obtain estimates of profit-neutral grandfathering for the electricity, cement, newsprint and steel indus...

This paper investigates the optimal management of a firm faced with a long-term liability that occurs at a random date. Three issues are analysed: the optimal dividend policy; optimal expenditure on safety to delay the occurrence of the liability; and the optimal liquidation date of the firm. An owner faced with dynamic unlimited liability never liquidates and therefore accumulates capital to t...

We present a non-cooperative model of a family’s time allocation between work and a home-produced public good, and examine whether the income tax should apply to couples or individuals. While tax-induced labor supply distortions lead to overprovision of the public good, spouses’ failure to internalize the collective effect of their choices points towards underprovision. A large parameter range ...