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The possible welfare benefits from improving the speed of medical innovation are investigated. Results show that medical innovations that enhance health outcomes may have high social values. The potential effects of greater investments in innovations on improving welfare are also examined.

The role of various social networks such as trade unions, religious coalitions, and action committees in the politics and decisions of voters is analyzed.

The economic question, whether copying increases or decreases the market value of copyrighted work, is studied. The legal question whether copying is 'fair use' is discussed.

Competition issues relating to Microsoft and Internet Explorer are examined in detail.

A study was conducted to analyze the effect of population on productivity. Results indicated that population may minimize productivity because of traditional diminishing returns from more intensive use of land and other natural resources. Findings also showed that the net relation between greater population and per capita incomes correlate with inducements to human capital and expansion of knowledge.

An analysis of the social security financing problem reveals that the most significant factors affecting it are political risk and transition regimes. Other factors affecting it include the questionable efficiency of alternative transition paths, changing tax base proposals, differences in rates of return across assets and the failure of the government to do something sooner resulting in an aggravation of the problem.

An evaluation of unemployment and nonemployment histories of American men suggests that unemployment statistics is not reflective of the labor market. Modifications in labor demands reduced wages and labor market opportunities especially of less skilled workers. Such labor-market conditions increased unemployment or nonemployment rate over time. But this effect is not observed in the unemployment data since the less skilled workers have already withdrawn from the labor force.

Vertical integration is analyzed as self-enforcing contracts to explain the economic incentives in vertical mergers. Non-free riding and competitive distributors are frequently motivated to conduct sales promotions preferred by manufacturers. The contractual remedy to this motivation is liable to combine both self-enforcement and legal enforcement methods. Such contractual arrangements can be facilitated by vertical integration.

Government passed a federal minimum wage hike in 1990-1991 that increased rates from $3.35 to $3.80 on Apr. 1, 1990, and later to $4.25 on Apr. 1, 1991. The wage hikes also raised employment costs for relatively unskilled workers. Employment/population ratios also fluctuated with changes in the minimum wage. Regression analysis indicated that higher employment costs for low-wage earners negated employment frequency.

The effect of cigarette prices on cigarette use was studied in an assessment of a model of rational addiction. The monopoly power of cigarette companies and the addictive nature of smoking explain why cigarette makers raised their prices during the 1980s because they expected smoking to decline. The price increase would raise short-term profits if the prices were set below the point of profit maximization as a way of increasing demand in the future due to addiction in the present.

There was a large increase in the demand for education between 1940 and 1990, as seen by the increase in the supply of workers with more education and a lack of reduction in relative wages. Data from the Decennial Census and the Current Population Survey were used to study the changes in wages and employment structure for ten-year periods between 1940 and 1990. The results indicated that the demand for skill increased during this time. The demand for male workers in the top wage decile grew 50% to 70%, while the demand for male workers in the bottom decile declined 30% to 50%.

A study based on data from the Current Population Survey show that wage inequality has been increasing between college-educated workers and other groups since 1963. Experience is also a factor in growing wage disparity, along with increasing demand for general discretionary skills that earn higher compensation. Wages for African Americans and women have been increasing, although the general trend is that of a grow gap between the wealthy and the poor.

Rent-seeking is any redistributive activity that appropriates resources. There are two ways in which rent-seeking harms growth. First, rent-seeking activities have increasing returns that make them more attractive than productive activities. Second, rent-seeking, especially by government authorities, causes more harm to the innovative activities that propel economic growth than ordinary production does.

In this article, the authors show that Napster-type services (file-sharing technologies) are likely to reduce copyright value. Their analysis finds that there is no inherent conflict between the court and copyright-holders with regard to particular uses, but why there may be a conflict with regard to a technology that has both 'fair' and infringing uses.

This paper looks at the work of Gary S. Becker, American economist, professor of sociology, friend, and colleague of Kevin M. Murphy. Murphy discusses the traditional approach of Becker's teaching and ideas as they were expressed through his wealth of content and style in course design; his discussions on the role of preferences, technology, and constraints as they influence household production; and his emphasis on the importance of markets and desire for more. Murphy recognizes Becker's teaching style as groundbreaking, unapologetic, and pure economics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many economists as well as a majority of the general public are pessimistic about the future of the U.S. Social Security System. Such pessimism is justified. Current estimates are that the system will run out of funds around 2030. This is bad news for today's young workers who will, even under current law, receive only about 50 cents in benefits for every dollar they will pay in Social Security taxes over their career (Murphy and Welch, 1996). The return these workers ultimately will receive will be even less, maybe much less, depending on what is done to balance the system, and when. With its low promised return and the uncertainty about its future, Social Security may seem more like social insecurity for many of today's workers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article first traces 1963-1990 trends in wage dispersion among men. Then, it follows relative wage movements among men distinguished by age and education, between men and women, and between blacks and whites. These two sets of patterns, inequality and relative wages, constitute the basic facts that have drawn so much attention. After summarizing them, it describes the coincident magnification of inequality that has resulted from increasing covariance between wages and time worked and between the wages of married men and the employment and earnings of their spouses. The magnification that one can observe for men is even greater for women because growth in participation has co-varied more strongly with education. Inequality has progressed continuously and smoothly in the upper half of the wage distribution throughout the period of the data. The same is true for wages below the median since 1969 and, perhaps, over the full period as well. Whatever is responsible has operated during a number of administrations and it follows that explanations must take a longer view.