The commons with capital markets

We explore commons problems when agents have access to capital markets. The commons has a high intrinsic rate of return but its fruits cannot be secured by individual agents. Resources transferred to the capital market earn lower returns, but are secure. In a two period model, we assess the consequences of market access for the commons' survival and welfare; we compare strategic and competitive equilibria. Market access generally speeds extinction, with negative welfare consequences. Against this, it allows intertemporal smoothing, a positive effect. In societies in which the former effect dominates, market liberalisation may be harmful. We reproduce the multiple equilibria found in other models of competitive agents; when agents are strategic, extinction dates are unique. Strategic agents generally earn their surplus by delaying the commons' extinction; in unusual cases, strategic agents behave as competitive ones even when their numbers are small.commons, capital markets, Washington Consensus, property rights

The Road to Extinction: Commons with Capital Markets

We study extinction in a commons problem in which agents have access to capital markets. When the commons grows more quickly than the interest rate, multiple equilibria are found for intermediate commons endowments. In one of these, extinction is hastened and welfare decreases in the endowment, a resource curse. An extraction tax reduces welfare in this 'cursed' equilibrium, increases it in the other equilibrium in which the commons is eventually depleted, and expands the set of commons stocks that are never depleted. Capital market access harms societies with low commons endowments. In the limit, as marginal extraction costs become constant, `jump extinctions' occur. Finally, when the commons grows less quickly than the interest rate, there is a unique extinction date for each endowment level.commons, capital markets, extinction, resource curse, storage, multiple equilibria, rational expectations equilibrium

The Road to Extinction: Commons with Capital Markets

We study extinction in a commons problem in which agents have access to capital markets. When the commons grows more quickly than the interest rate, multiple equilibria are found for intermediate commons endowments. In one of these, welfare decreases as the resource becomes more abundant, a `re- source curse'. As marginal extraction costs become constant, market access instantly depletes the commons. Without markets - the classic environment - equilibria are unique; extinction dates and welfare increase with the endow- ment. When the endowment is either very abundant or very scarce, market access improves welfare. As marginal costs of extraction from the commons become constant, market access can reduce welfare if the subjective discount rate exceeds the interest rate.commons, capital markets, perfect foresight, extinction, resource curse, storage

Policy compromises: corruption and regulation in a dynamic democracy

This paper evaluates the extent of regulation in a democracy with political corruption. Elected politicians can restrict entry of firms in exchange for bribes from entrepreneurs. Full liberalization implies free entry and allocative efficiency and is supported by a majority of voters. Voters reelect politicians based on observed performance. We study Markov-perfect equilibria of the resulting game, and demonstrate that voters agree to tolerate some corruption and inefficient regulation in political equilibrium. Efficient policies can be promoted by productivity growth. Political corruption entails excessive stabilization of aggregate fluctuations.

Fiscal Federalism and Electoral Accountability

We study the efficient allocation of spending and taxation authority in a federation in which federal politicians are exposed to electoral uncertainty. We show that centralization may, but need not, result in a loss of electoral accountability. We identify an important asymmetry between positive and negative externalities and show that centralization may not be efficient in economies with positive externalities even when regions are identical and centralization does not entail a loss of accountability. We also show that decentralization can only Pareto dominate centralization in economies with negative externalities.fiscal federalism, local public goods, externalities, performance voting, turnout uncertainty, electoral accountability

The road to extinction: commons with capital markets

Competitive agents extract in continuous time from a commons. Capital market access allows them to both save and borrow against their extraction stream. When the commons asset grows more quickly than the privately stored one, multiple equilibria are found for intermediate commons endowments. One of these has the extinction date and welfare decrease in the endowment, a resource curse. When the commons asset grows less quickly than the privately stored one, there is a unique extinction date for each endowment level. In the limit, as marginal extraction costs become constant, `jump extinctions' occur. In cases with multiple equilibria: welfare is increased for low initial stock levels when agents do not have access to capital markets, but decreased otherwise; and an extraction tax reduces welfare in the `cursed' equilibrium, increases it in the other finite extinction equilibrium and expands the set of commons stocks that are never extinguishedcommons, capital markets, extinction, resource curse, storage, multiple equilibrium, rational expectations equilibrium

Governance Regimes, Corruption and Growth: Theory and Evidence

We study the role of governance regimes in the determination of corruption and economic growth. Our model identifies two governance regimes and shows that the relationship between corruption and growth is regime specific. We use a threshold model to estimate the impact of corruption on growth and allow corruption to be endogenous. We identify two governance regimes, conditional on the quality of political institutions. In the regime with high quality political institutions, corruption has a negative impact on growth. In the regime with low quality institutions, corruption has little impact on growth.Growth; corruption; threshold models; governance.

A Note on the Mode of Vibration in Layered Flat Topped Conical Hill Deccan Trap Type and the Stresses Generated in Each Layer Part I

In this paper the authors have calculated the displacements and stresses at each layer of a n-layered flat-topped conical hill while the stresses of the type of a confined explosions are applied at the bottom of the hill. The solution is obtained in terms of Bessel's function and the condition of fracturing is also specified

Price Uncertainty and Derivative Securities in a General Equilibrium Model

Consider an exchange economy with multiple competitive equilibria. Agents know the set of equilibria, but not which will be selected. To insure against unfavorable equilibrium outcomes, they trade on markets for commodities contingent on the equilibrium price vector. Such price-contingent contracts allow agents to insure fully against the risk stemming from uncertainty about the equilibrium to be chosen. However they introduce further uncertainty because there may be several possible equilibrium prices for price-index-contingent commodities. The introduction of higher-order of derivative products removes this uncertainty, but in turn introduces uncertainty about the prices of these products. We prove that in regular economies this process converges in a finite number of steps to a unique fully-insured Pareto efficient allocation. The introduction of price-contingent commodities or securities and further derivative securities removes all endogenous uncertainty associated with lack of knowledge of equilibrium prices. We thus provide a mechanism for resolving non-uniqueness in economies with multiple equilibria and also give an important resource-allocation role to derivative securities based on price indices

Strategic consensus

We study equilibrium retention rules in a dynamic common agency game. The decision to reappoint or not is made by a committee consisting of two principals: the retention decision is uncertain if the two principals disagree. We demonstrate that all equilibrium paths exhibit what we call strategic consensus: the agent takes actions that satisfy the performance standards of all principals on the one hand, and all principals lower their standards such that the agent wants to satisfy them on the other. This result applies both to economies with sub- and super-additive costs of providing utilities to the principals