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  Volume 3, No. 1 (Spring 2000)   The  Hotelling  Principle defines socially-optimal conservation of an exhaustible resource i a mathematically-defined, equilibrium environment in which no human action can occur.  Nevertheless, the economics profession generally tends to view the  Hotelling  Principle as offering the promise of being operational

  Volume 7, No. 3 (Fall 2004)   Contestability theory makes a case that the pricing behavior of a multi-product natural monopolist is disciplined by the threat of entrepreneurial entry. The  contestability  model employs three major concepts. These include (1) economies of scope in which joint production of a slate of products is less costly than

Volume 9, No. 2 (Summer 2006)   The economic theory of intergenerational sustainability is essentially neoclassical in nature and purports to provide a prescriptive framework for deciding how current generations can use “available resources” to assure and enhance the well being of both current and future generations. Intergenerational

CANTOR’S DIAGONAL ARGUMENT: AN EXTENSION TO THE SOCIALIST CALCULATION DEBATE by Robert P. Murphy. The socialist calculation debate is one of the most famous episodes in the history of the Austrian School. Provoked by Ludwig von Mises’s original salvo in 1920, the debate forced socialist theorists to refine their position TOWARD A CALCULATIONAL

Volume 12, Number 4 (2009)   In his 1997 book,  Guns, Germs and Steel , Jared Diamond attributes the ascendancy and triumphs of certain societies to geographical and environmental advantages. But given the conditions of geography and environment, Diamond advances the misguided view that societal ascent is principally contingent upon success in

Volume 14, No. 1 (Spring 2011)   The winner’s curse was “discovered” in low rates of return  on certain types of capital goods acquired in auctions or negotiated  acquisitions. The inference was that companies were systematically  bidding amounts in excess of their presumed “common investment  worth.” In exploring this phenomenon, experimental

In Guns, Germs, and Steel (1997) and Collapse (2005), Professor Jared Diamond argues that geography and environment are the “ultimate determinants” of the fates of societies This paper examines Jared Diamond’s success in explaining the broad pattern of history within the context of geographical and environmental considerations. Volume 22, Number 1

Harvard professor of philosophy, John Rawls, can be credited with provoking the most recent angst over the issue of intergenerational equity. Rawls views intergenerational equity as a policy issue necessitating governmental intervention to manage “social saving and investment” for the benefit of the least advantaged generation. Volume 21, Number 4