Research in Law and Economics

List of Contributors......Page 1
Acknowledgments......Page 4
Introduction to Benefit-Cost Volume......Page 5
Introduction......Page 8
The Struggle for Methodological Consistency in BCA......Page 11
1970-1992: BCA under Reagan and Bush I......Page 12
1993-2001: BCA under Clinton......Page 14
2001 to the Present: Competing ‘‘Best Practice’’ Standards and the Political Manipulation of BCA under Bush II......Page 19
Where Does BCA Go From Here? A New Executive Order or an Independent, Non-governmental Task Force?......Page 27
First Determine What is Not Controversial in BCA......Page 30
The Hard Part: Achieving Consensus on the Devilish Details......Page 32
Valuing Human Lives and Health (Among Other Non-market Goods)......Page 33
Discounting......Page 34
Taking BCA’s Critics Seriously......Page 39
How an Independently Adopted Set of ‘‘Best Practice’’ Standards Might Affect Government Policy......Page 40
Conclusion......Page 43
Notes......Page 44
References......Page 50
The ‘‘Benefits’’ of Non-Delegation: Using the Non-Delegation Doctrine to Bring More Rigor to Benefit-Cost Analysis......Page 55
Introduction......Page 56
What Do Administrative Agencies Really Do and What Should They Do?......Page 58
The Non-Delegation Doctrine......Page 60
But How Can It Be Done?......Page 66
Notes......Page 68
Monographs......Page 71
Periodical and Journals......Page 72
Introduction......Page 73
A Simple Approach to Estimating Benefits......Page 76
Does the Sum of WTPs Have Normative Significance?......Page 77
Implications for the ‘‘Adjustment’’ Issue......Page 79
International Ventures and the Domain of Willingness to Pay......Page 81
Practical Considerations......Page 85
The Problem of Malevolent Third-Party Preferences......Page 86
Conclusions......Page 87
Notes......Page 89
References......Page 91
Introduction......Page 93
Major Current Uses of Microeconomic Performance Measures......Page 94
Generally Accepted Economic Principles......Page 97
Retrospective Assessment......Page 100
Improving Consistency: Reporting Format......Page 103
Improving Consistency: Scorecard for Economic Assessments......Page 104
Conclusions......Page 105
Acknowledgment......Page 106
References......Page 107
Welcome to the Data-Poor Real World: Incorporating Benefit-Cost Principles into Environmental Policymaking......Page 109
Economics and the Endangered Species Act......Page 111
The Economic Analysis of Critical Habitat Designation......Page 113
Critical Habitat Designation for West Coast Salmon and Steelhead......Page 119
Cost Estimation......Page 120
Benefit Estimation......Page 122
4(b)(2) Decision Process......Page 127
Acknowledgment......Page 133
Notes......Page 134
References......Page 136
Introduction......Page 137
Price-Support Subsidy Instruments......Page 139
Target Price and Loan Rate Responses......Page 140
Empirical Data......Page 143
Welfare Effects......Page 145
Loan-Rate Model......Page 147
Target-Price Model......Page 148
Domestic Supply Response......Page 149
Conclusion......Page 151
Notes......Page 152
References......Page 153
General Equilibrium in Vertical Market Structures: Overselling Versus Overbuying......Page 155
Introduction......Page 156
General Equilibrium Versus Partial Equilibrium Supply and Demand......Page 161
A Model with Related Input and Output Markets......Page 163
Competitive Behavior......Page 165
The Case of Monopoly with Related Goods......Page 166
The Case of Monopsony with Related Goods......Page 169
Market Power in Both Input and Output Markets......Page 174
Naked Overbuying as a Means of Exercising Market Power......Page 180
Conclusion......Page 181
Notes......Page 183
References......Page 186
The Chicago O’Hare Expansion: A Case Study of Administrative Manipulation of Benefit-Cost Principles......Page 188
Introduction......Page 189
BCA-I......Page 191
Between BCA-I and BCA-II......Page 195
BCA-II......Page 196
Notes......Page 202
References......Page 206
Notes on the Premia for Foreign Exchange and Nontradables Outlays......Page 208
Introducing Value-Added Taxation......Page 213
Introducing VAT Exclusions (Credits) for Investment Demand......Page 216
Sourcing in the Foreign Capital Market......Page 219
Sourcing from Both Domestic and Foreign Capital Markets......Page 222
Notes......Page 225
An Aggregate Measure for Benefit-Cost Analysis......Page 227
Background......Page 228
A Definition of Moral Sentiments......Page 229
Invariance......Page 230
Double Counting......Page 231
The Potential Compensation Problem with Including Moral Sentiments......Page 233
The PCT: Problems with Excluding Moral Sentiments......Page 235
Why An Aggregate Measure is Superior to KH......Page 237
An Extended Example: The Discount Rate Problem and Moral Harm......Page 238
Acceptability of KH and KHM......Page 241
Choices......Page 242
Conclusion......Page 243
Notes......Page 244
Acknowledgement......Page 246
References......Page 247
Should Benefit-Cost Analyses take Account of General Equilibrium Effects?......Page 250
Introduction......Page 251
Context......Page 253
Conceptual Background......Page 255
Approximations......Page 258
Modified Goulder-Williams Model and Calibration......Page 262
Results......Page 265
Implications......Page 269
Calibrating Non-Separable Preferences......Page 270
The Policy/Environment Response......Page 271
Notes......Page 272
References......Page 274
Introduction......Page 276
Theoretical Analysis......Page 278
Empirical Analysis......Page 279
Benefit-Cost Analyses of the Clean Air Act......Page 282
Benefit Analysis of the Clear Skies Initiative......Page 284
Office of Management and Budget......Page 286
An Alternative Approach - The Valuation of Life Expectancy......Page 287
A Life-time Utility Maximizing Individual with ‘‘Pluperfect’’ Annuities Markets......Page 289
A Simplified Model of Life Expectancy......Page 290
The Willingness to Pay for Life Expectancy and the Value of a Statistical Life......Page 292
The Marginal Willingness to Pay for Life Expectancy Curve Calibrated by VSL......Page 293
Conclusions and Directions for Research......Page 298
Notes......Page 299
References......Page 300
Valuing Complex Goods: or, Can You Get Anything Out of Experts Other Than a Decision?......Page 303
Introduction......Page 304
The Role of Information in Eliciting ’True’ Non-Use Values......Page 307
Complexity: The Processing of Information by Respondents......Page 308
The Optimal Provision of Information in CV Studies......Page 310
Information Provision through Alternatives to CV......Page 311
Modelling Resource Information and Willingness to Pay......Page 312
Environmental Resource Information and the Validity of WTP: An Application to RMLs......Page 314
Valuing Complex Goods: An Experiment......Page 316
The Delphi Study......Page 317
Ascertaining WTP for Remote Mountain Lakes: An Experiment......Page 321
The Contingent Market......Page 322
Information Levels......Page 323
Results......Page 324
Testing the Effect of Information on the Mean Willingness to Pay for RMLs......Page 326
Testing for Implicit Ranking of Lakes and Comparison with Expert Ordering......Page 328
Conclusion......Page 331
Notes......Page 333
References......Page 336
The Rise of Cost-Benefit Rationality as Solution to a Political Problem of Distrust......Page 338
References......Page 345
Biased Valuations, Damage Assessments, and Policy Choices: The Choice of Measure Matters......Page 346
The Measures and Different Valuations Resulting from Them......Page 347
The Choice of Measure......Page 350
The Value of a Positive Change......Page 351
Valuations and Reference States......Page 352
Discounting the Value of Future Gains and Future Losses......Page 355
Concluding Comments......Page 356
Notes......Page 357
References......Page 358