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We take advantage of the fortuitous randomization of trial outcome to provide a novel strategy to identify the deterrent effect exclusive of incapacitation. We compare the post-sentencing criminal activity of criminals who were convicted of a strikeable offense with those who were tried for a strikeable offense but convicted of a nonstrikeable offense. As a robustness check, we also make this comparison in states without three-strikes laws. The identification strategy lets us estimate the deterrent effect nonparametrically using data solely from the three-strikes era. We find that California's three-strike legislation significantly reduces felony arrest rates among the class of criminals with two strikes by 17-20 percent. (Contains 3 tables, 8 figures, and 26 footnotes.)

Students in private schools routinely outperform those in public schools both in the United States and around the world. But do private schools make students better or do they simply cream skim better students? in this article I take advantage of the remarkable fact that in many districts in India a majority of students attend private schools. As the private share of school enrollment increases, cream skimming becomes less plausible as the explanation for a higher rate of achievement in private schools. Evidence for cream skimming is found when the private share of schooling is low, in the range of 0-15%, and thus private schools have a large public pool from which to skim. But the private effect on achievement does not appear to diminish greatly even in districts where more than 70% of students are in private schools. Most importantly, mean scores taken over the entire population of students, private and public, increase with the share of private schooling. These findings support a significant productivity effect of private schools. (JEL 125, 12, L33), I. INTRODUCTION Students in private schools routinely outperform those in public schools both in the United States and around the world. (1) But do private schools make students better or [...]

'PRIVATE GOVERNMENTS' SUCH AS HOMEOWNERS associations and condominium cooperatives provide all manner of collective consumption goods, from road maintenance, trash collection, and snow removal to transportation, policing, and medical care. [...]

FEDERAL LAW FORBIDS A NEW DRUG from being sold in the United States unless it has passed tests approved by the Food and Drug Administration examining the drug's safety and [...]

* The Global Organ Shortage: Economic Causes, Human Consequences, Policy Responses By T. Randolph Beard, David L. Kaserman, and Rigmar Osterkamp Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2013. Pp. xvi, 242. [...]

PEDIATRICIANS AND THEIR PATIENTS are pleading with Congress to reauthorize a provision of the Food and Drug Administration Modernization Act (FDAMA) intended to encourage study of the effects of drugs [...]

The issue of bias against out-of-state defendants in legal cases and the size of awards against these defendants is examined, with focus on the effect of different methods of judicial selection on the outcomes of cases.

Progress is better for some consumers than for others. We analyze the factors which govern how much a consumer gains from progress, defined as price declines and the introduction of new and improved products, and we show how these factors vary systematically across different consumer groups. Economic developments of the 1980s and 1990s have brought increasing disagreement about the performance of the American and European economies. Economists typically try to account for these dual and contrasting perspectives by citing the increasing gap between the wages of skilled and unskilled labor. We examine differential consumer gains as another factor which may account for the contrasting perspectives. Differential consumer gains can also help to explain contrasting perspectives on the de-socialization of the East European and Soviet economies.

The concept of genetic testing to prevent the spread of incurable diseases and its relation to social benefits and costs were examined. It was suggested that the utility of genetic testing is that it would prevent parents from having to experience the agonizing death of their children. It was argued that there was a difference between state-imposed eugenics and voluntary eugenics. As to the issue of employment discrimination, it was suggested that there are anti-discrimination laws which the courts enforce.

A survey on term limits, an important part of the US political system, shows that no significant changes have occurred in the state legislatures that have adopted them. Public policy of Congress may or may not be affected by term limits. Power of special interests may be reduced, but without significant effect. It is not known why people like to reelect politicians and also vote for term limits. Risk averse and dangerous coalitions are avoided by having term limits.

During the development of policy, irrelevance propositions are irrelevant. If these suggestions are true then accepting them as false has zero costs but, if they are false, accepting them as true may be very costly. Thus, even if these suggestions are true, they should be accepted as false. Consequently, one should not be unduly curious at whether these suggestions are in fact true.

We consider the well-known theorem of Alchian and Allen that adding a per unit charge to the price of two substitute goods increases the relative consumption of the higher price good. The current literature misspecifies the conditions under which the theorem holds. When applying the theorem the fixed cost should be applied on a per unit basis, rather than in terms of an entry fee for consumption. We state the necessary conditions for the theorem to hold when the consumers are shipped to the goods., I. THE THEOREM The Alchian and Allen theorem states that adding a common charge to the price of two substitute goods increases the relative consumption of the higher quality good, [...]

Research studies that link the genes and diseases continue to contribute to man's understanding of diseases, their sources and the methods by which they can be prevented. Genetic tests have been valuable techniques that enable man to predict the health status of individuals. However, many fear that this technology might cause problems in employment and the provision of health insurance. As a result, a new form of insurance, called genetic insurance, has been created.