Soctal Securtty checks dehvered to beneflclarles m the first week of July 1978 reflected the fourth automattc cost-of-ltvmg tncrease tn cash benefits under leglslatlon enacted tn 1972 and 1973 The 6 5-percent tncrease, which became effectwe to June, apphed to benefits for all persons on the social security benefit rolls at the end of Mdy, except those recetvmg benefits under the “spectal mmm~m ...

In two-sided matching markets, stability can be costly. We define social welfare functions for matching markets and use them to formulate a definition of the price of stability. We then show that it is common to find a price tag attached to stability, and that the price of stability can be substantial. Therefore, when choosing a matching mechanism, a social planner would be well advised to weig...

We consider a Hotelling game where a finite number of retailers choose a location, given that their potential consumers are distributed on a network. Retailers do not compete on price but only on location, therefore each consumer shops at the closest store. We show that when the number of retailers is large enough, the game admits a pure Nash equilibrium and we construct it. We then compare the...

Asset prices have played a prominent role in the present business cycle, both in terms of the amplitude of their fluctuations and because of their impact on financial institutions and economic activity. Such medium-term swings are of course not new; the last similar episode took place in the early 1970s. What has drawn attention to the recent asset price movements is not only their absolute siz...

This paper estimates a dynamic model of the world oil market and tests whether OPEC countries colluded and whether non-OPEC countries behaved oligopolistically over the period 1970-2004. The model generates estimates of the shadow price of the resource with minimal functional form assumptions. Results support oligopolistic behavior among non-OPEC producers and collusion among OPEC producers exc...

We study a large market with directed search and signaling. Each seller chooses an investment that determines the quality of the good which is the seller’s private information. A seller also chooses the price of the good and the number of selling sites. After observing sellers’ choices of prices and sites, but not quality, buyers choose which site to visit. The sites posting the same price and ...

We show that variation in prices for new cars are in part the result of scarcity rents. Consistent with theoretical predictions, a dealership moving from a situation of shortage to one of ample inventory lowers transaction prices by about 1% ceteris paribus, or $230 on the average car. Shorter resupply times also decrease transaction prices for cars in excess demand. Transaction prices for cars...

Biodiesel production sustainability relates to decision making on blending involving economic and environmental criteria. Several feedstocks candidate in European countries biodiesel industry, namely different vegetable origin oils. The present research aims at assessing the impact of technological constraints allocated to the decision objectives taking into account ...

BACKGROUND This study is an empirical assessment of the impact of the drug decriminalization policy followed by Portugal in July 2001, on the price of illicit drugs. METHODS The analysis is performed using a difference-in-differences approach and the Synthetic Control Method in order to construct a synthetic control unit from a convex combination of countries. RESULTS The results suggest th...

Large house price bubbles can be devastating for the real economy. Therefore, understanding the conditions under which large house price bubbles occur is fundamental. We shed new light on this issue in a laboratory setting. We find that endowing subjects with a lower preference for housing services creates larger experimental house price bubbles. This is in line with the theoretical model mecha...