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South Koreans appear to be preoccupied with their offspring's education and also have the lowest total fertility rate in the world. We propose a novel theory with status externalities and endogenous fertility connecting these facts, motivated by novel empirical evidence on private education spillovers. Using a quantitative model calibrated to Korea, we find that fertility would be 28 percent higher without the externality. We explore the effects of government policy: a pro-natal transfer or an education tax can increase fertility and reduce education spending. An education tax of 22 percent together with moderate pro-natal transfers maximizes the current generation's welfare. (JEL D31, D62, E24, I21, I26, I28, J13, O40)

International audience ; Using an urban economic model with an endogenous centre where agents freely choose land quantities, we prove to what extent policies aimed at abating pollution generated by working households' commuting trips involve a better control of urban sprawl as a positive side-effect. After the eco-tax has been applied to households by a local planner in the form of a linear urban toll, agglomeration economies which incited firms to group together in the Central Business District (CBD) keep on working as a positive externality. Under certain conditions, they are even strengthened. ; Dans un modèle de microéconomie urbaine à centre endogène où les agents choisissent librement leurs surfaces de sol, nous montrons comment une politique de réduction de la pollution émise par les déplacements domicile-travail des ménages actifs présente comme impact positif connexe une plusgrande maîtrise de l'étalement urbain. Après mise en place, par un régulateur local, d'une écotaxe applicable aux seuls ménages sous la forme d'un péage urbain de type linéaire (kilométrique), les économies d'agglomération qui ont incité les firmes à se regrouper dans le centre des emplois continuentd'agir comme une externalité positive et, sous certaines conditions, se voient même renforcées.

International audience ; Using an urban economic model with an endogenous centre where agents freely choose land quantities, we prove to what extent policies aimed at abating pollution generated by working households' commuting trips involve a better control of urban sprawl as a positive side-effect. After the eco-tax has been applied to households by a local planner in the form of a linear urban toll, agglomeration economies which incited firms to group together in the Central Business District (CBD) keep on working as a positive externality. Under certain conditions, they are even strengthened. ; Dans un modèle de microéconomie urbaine à centre endogène où les agents choisissent librement leurs surfaces de sol, nous montrons comment une politique de réduction de la pollution émise par les déplacements domicile-travail des ménages actifs présente comme impact positif connexe une plusgrande maîtrise de l'étalement urbain. Après mise en place, par un régulateur local, d'une écotaxe applicable aux seuls ménages sous la forme d'un péage urbain de type linéaire (kilométrique), les économies d'agglomération qui ont incité les firmes à se regrouper dans le centre des emplois continuentd'agir comme une externalité positive et, sous certaines conditions, se voient même renforcées.

International audience ; Using an urban economic model with an endogenous centre where agents freely choose land quantities, we prove to what extent policies aimed at abating pollution generated by working households' commuting trips involve a better control of urban sprawl as a positive side-effect. After the eco-tax has been applied to households by a local planner in the form of a linear urban toll, agglomeration economies which incited firms to group together in the Central Business District (CBD) keep on working as a positive externality. Under certain conditions, they are even strengthened. ; Dans un modèle de microéconomie urbaine à centre endogène où les agents choisissent librement leurs surfaces de sol, nous montrons comment une politique de réduction de la pollution émise par les déplacements domicile-travail des ménages actifs présente comme impact positif connexe une plusgrande maîtrise de l'étalement urbain. Après mise en place, par un régulateur local, d'une écotaxe applicable aux seuls ménages sous la forme d'un péage urbain de type linéaire (kilométrique), les économies d'agglomération qui ont incité les firmes à se regrouper dans le centre des emplois continuentd'agir comme une externalité positive et, sous certaines conditions, se voient même renforcées.

Is green consumerism beneficial to the environment and the economy? To shed light on this question, we study the political economy of environmental regulations in a model with neutral and green consumers where the latter derive some warm glow from buying a good of higher environmental quality produced by a pro…t-maximizing monopoly, while the good bought by neutral consumers is provided by a competitive fringe. Consumers unanimously vote for a standard set at a lower than first-best level, or for a tax delivering the first-best environmental protection level. Despite its under-provision of environmental protection, the standard dominates the tax from a welfare perspective due to its higher productive efficiency, i.e., a smaller gap between the environmental qualities of the two goods supplied. In stark contrast, voters unanimously prefer a tax to a standard when the willingness to pay for greener goods is small enough.

First published in 1950, A Critique of Welfare Economics was enormously influential. It was concerned with the exposition, criticism, and appreciation of the theory of economic welfare as it had been developed to that date. Now reissued to coincide with the publication of Professor Little's new volume, Ethics, Economics, and Politics. The Critique benefits from a new preface in which the author assesses the contribution that it made in the light ofsubsequent literature in the area. - ;A Critique of Welfare Economics was first published in 1950. It was concerned with the exposition, criticism

"The Economics of Welfare occupies a privileged position in economics. It contributed to the professionalization of economics, a goal aggressively and effectively pursued by Pigou's predecessor and teacher Alfred Marshall. The Economics of Welfare also may be credited with establishing welfare economics, by systematically analyzing market departures and their potential remedies. In writing The Economics of Welfare, Pigou built a bridge between the old and the new economics at Cambridge and in Britain. Much of the book remains relevant for contemporary economics. The list of his analyses that continues to play an important role in economics is impressive. Some of the more important include: public goods and externalities, welfare criteria, index number problems, price discrimination, the theory of the firm, the structure of relief programs for the poor, and public finance. Pigou's discussion of the institutional structure governing labor-market operations in his Wealth and Welfare prompted Schumpeter to call the work "the greatest venture in labor economics ever undertaken by a man who was primarily a theorist."The Economics of Welfare established welfare economics as a field of study. The first part analyzes the relationship between the national dividend and economic and total welfare. Parts II and III link the size of the dividend to the allocation of resources in the economy and the institutional structure governing labor-market operations. Part IV explores the relationship between the national dividend and its distribution.In her new introduction, Nahid Aslanbeigui discusses the life of Pigou and the history of The Economics of Welfare. She also discusses Pigou's theories as expressed in this volume and some of the criticisms those theories have met as well as the impact of those criticisms. The Economics of Welfare is a classic that repays careful study."--Provided by publisher.

AbstractThis paper presents a vector optimization approach to social choice in the form of the determination of social welfare optimum. While such applications of vector optimization are well developed within the economics literature, this paper shows that some useful extensions are possible. These extensions involve the adoption of some theory and concepts developed in modern mathematics including weak Pareto optimality, quasimax, weak quasimax, locally proper weak quasimax, and invexity. These extensions make the choice of social welfare optimum less restrictive. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

This paper studies the incentives to undertake uncertain R&D initiatives in a dynamic duopoly network industry. It is shown that network externalities positively affect the incentives to invest in R&D. In the model, competition resembles a preemption race and, therefore, market performance implies an overinvestment in R&D in comparison with the social optimum. Moreover, network externalities have an important impact in the dynamic evolution of the industry. Although in the long-run a single firm dominates the market (i.e. wins the race), short-run competition is very fierce and concentrated on neck-and-neck technological configurations. This short-run competition is fiercer and longer, the higher the level of network externalities. Policy measures that increase technological diffusion (i.e. mandatory licensing), increase the level of competition and/or prolong the short-run competition have an important positive impact on consumer welfare and on firms' R&D incentives.

This paper studies the incentives to undertake uncertain R&D initiatives in a dynamic duopoly network industry. It is shown that network externalities positively affect the incentives to invest in R&D. In the model, competition resembles a preemption race and, therefore, market performance implies an overinvestment in R&D in comparison with the social optimum. Moreover, network externalities have an important impact in the dynamic evolution of the industry. Although in the long-run a single firm dominates the market (i.e. wins the race), short-run competition is very fierce and concentrated on neck-and-neck technological configurations. This short-run competition is fiercer and longer, the higher the level of network externalities. Policy measures that increase technological diffusion (i.e. mandatory licensing), increase the level of competition and/or prolong the short-run competition have an important positive impact on consumer welfare and on firms' R&D incentives.