The elementary economics of social dilemmas

Abstract.  A social dilemma is, in essence, a prisoners' dilemma in a continuous strategy space. I discuss a number of social dilemmas that have caught my attention, offer an elementary, diagrammatic synthesis of them, and discuss some of the economic insights that the diagrams capture, including incentives for pre‐commitment. Finally, I model pre‐commitment via delegation and link results to the literature on the evolution of preferences.     

The World Bank and Poverty: The Plight of the World's Impoverished Is Still a Major Concern of the International Agency.

Abstract . Since the early 1980s, the World Bank has taken on new tasks in addition to its regular development finance function: preventing economic collapse in borrower countries, helping heavily indebted countries cope with their international payments difficulties, and encouraging basic economic policy reform and structural adjustment in developing countries. Many critics worry that, as the World Bank has taken on these new responsibilities, it has lessened its concern about poverty. The Bank and its friends argue that poverty alleviation remains a central element of the Bank's agenda, but the world situation is different than it was during the 1970s and new kinds of action are needed today. The Bank believes that economic reform and structural adjustments are crucial elements of a modern anti-poverty program. Many critics believe that structural adjustment programs may seriously hurt the poor. Exploring the arguments and reporting the ways the World Bank has sought to respond to this controversy, the author concludes that the issue is a fundamental disagreement about whether the new modes of Bank lending and the Bank's new policy emphasis will have a positive or negative effect on the poor.     

Structural change in Malawi since independence: Consequences of a development strategy based on large-scale agriculture

This paper investigates the nature of the structural change which has occured in the Malawian economy since independence and identifies key policies pursued by the government which it is argued have been decisive in shaping this development. The salient feature of structural change is shown to be the rapid growth of large-scale agriculture, associated with an equally rapid transfer of labour into wage employment and a decline in the importance of peasant production. The implications of these changes for living standards and future development and policy are considered.     

WHAT CAN ECONOMIC ANALYSIS CONTRIBUTE TO THE ‘SUSTAINABILITY’ DEBATE?

Economics generally, and benefit-cost analysis in particular, are not substitutes for values. They are tools of analysis that rest on assumptions about values. The primary role for economics in normative analysis is to provide information about efficiently achieving that which is valued, not to make the decision. The major economic tool for analyzing normative issues is benefit-cost analysis. This paper considers the role of benefit-cost analysis in addressing the sustainability debate. The notion of "sustain-ability" raises concerns about values held by society. The analysis here addresses several issues within the sustainability debate: concerns about intergenerational equity including the appropriate discount rate for projects with environmental consequences; implications for burdens on future generations; and the moral basis for benefit-cost analysis. The authors argue that the correct discount rate for all such projects is the social rate of time preference, and that suggestions for using lower discount rates result from attempting to prevent inequities by adjusting prices. Additionally, the authors argue that economic analysis, especially benefit-cost analysis, can play a useful role in providing information to decision makers, who ultimately will face resource allocation issues as they seek to implement policies promoting sustainability.     

Parenthetic Learning in Organizations: Toward the Unlearning of the Unlearning Model

The organizational ‘unlearning’ model is discussed. It is argued that the model fails to capture the individual and organizational processes necessary to achieve the objectives for which it is proposed. To achieve these objectives, an alternative, ‘parenthetic learning’ model of organizational learning and change is proposed.     

Sovereign Debt: A Primer

The troublesome debts of a number of developing countries havespawned a large literature on why countries borrow, on the extentto which debt contributes to growth, on why countries repay,and on how debt problems should be handled. This article providesa basic introduction to some issues in sovereign debt. First,it presents the basic accounting concepts associated with debt.Second, it treats debt as a component of the intertemporal maximizationof a borrower in a competitive loan market facing an intertemporalbudget constraint. Third, it introduces debt into recent modelsof endogenous growth and examines what these models imply aboutthe relationship between debt and growth. Fourth, it discussesissues arising from sovereign risk. Fifth, it examines incentivesto repay. Sixth, it reviews the various options available toa creditor facing a debtor unwilling to meet current debt serviceobligations. Seventh, it examines debt buybacks.     

Labor supply,uncertainty, and efficient taxation

We analyze the structure of an optimal linear income tax when workers are uncertain about their wages at the time they choose their labor supplies. Background for the normative analysis is provided by an outline of the positive theory of wage taxation and labor supply under uncertainty. It is then shown that given imperfect information about wages, lump-sum taxation is not necessarily efficient. Because a wage tax reduces the riskiness of wage income, some combination of a lump-sum tax and a wage tax generally will minimize excess burden.     

Tax evasion and labour supply

The total effect of a change in the probability of detection, or other parameters, on the level of tax evasion can be divided into three separate effects, only one of which is determinate.