In this paper we study the welfare effect of a monopoly innovation. Unlike many partial equilibrium models carried out in previous studies, general equilibrium models with non-price-taking behavior are constructed and analyzed in greater detail. We discover that technical innovation carried out by a monopolist could significantly increase the social welfare. We conclude that, in general, the cr...

One of the suggested topics for discussion in the workshop is the question ‘under which circumstances cartels typically do not have any (or particularly high) adverse price effects’. In this context, the problem of partial or incomplete cartels, i.e. cartels that do not include all or almost all firms in a market but are comparatively small relative to the overall market, could be of interest.

“Nudge”-style interventions are typically evaluated on the basis of their effects on behavior, not social welfare. We use a field experiment to measure the welfare effects of one especially policy-relevant intervention, home energy conservation reports. We measure consumer welfare by sending introductory reports and using an incentive-compatible multiple price list to determine willingness-to-p...

Whether poor single mothers move in response to welfare benefits has important implications for social policy in a federal system. Many scholars claim that welfare does not affect migration. These claims are not definitive, however, because the models underlying them rely on problematic assumptions and do not adequately control for nonwelfare determinants of migration. I address these shortcomi...

This paper examines the effects of inflation on the efficiency of the price system, output and welfare, through a model of monopolistic competition with consumer search and (S,s) price setting. Its results have relevance for both search theory and macroeconomics. In particular, it provides a foundation for the conventional wisdom linking higher inflation, through increased price dispersion, to ...

The purpose of this paper is to estimate the welfare cost of inflation in Iran. We first use the long-horizon regression approach developed by Fisher and Seater (1993) to obtain an estimate of the inflation rate elasticity of money demand and then the Baily’s consumer surplus approach to calculate the welfare cost function. The results show that reducing inflation rate from 40% to 0% increases ...

This paper extends and synthesizes the various approaches used in the recent welfare migration literature to both offer the most comprehensive set of tests to date for welfare migration and to determine the relative importance of short-distance moves in welfare migration flows. The current study follows on the finding of McKinnish (2005) of welfare migration effects obtained by comparing welfar...

Vaccination promotes animal welfare by protecting animal health, but it also has other welfare benefits, e.g. recent investigations have looked at the potential of vaccines in immunoneutering such as immunocastration--a humane alternative to the painful traditional methods. Similarly, vaccination can be used during disease outbreaks as a viable alternative to stamping-out, thus avoiding the wel...