We study the practical production planning problem of a food producer facing a non-stationary erratic demand for a perishable product with a fixed life time. In meeting the uncertain demand, the food producer uses a FIFO issuing policy. The food producer aims at meeting a certain service level at lowest cost. Every production run a set-up cost is incurred. Moreover, the producer has to deal wit...

In our first two columns, we described innovative practices that Advanced Practices Council (APC) members shared with their colleagues at recent meetings. In this column, we describe the ideas that Jim Tosone, a long-standing APC member, shared at the October APC meeting. A contributor to the recently published “Complete Idiot’s Guide to the U.S. Constitution,” Tosone explained how understandin...

We examine how financial penalties for social damages can be structured to mitigate judgment-proof problems. These problems occur when a producer has insufficient wealth to compensate victims for the most serious damages that can arise from his activities. We demonstrate that a policy in which assessed penalties are decoupled from realized damages generally generates greater social surplus than...

Theoretical and empirical aspects of policy failures due to subsidies are discussed in the context of international trade. A general classification of subsidies that cause environmental externalities is presented. The economic and environmental impacts of producer subsidies on international trade are examined with partial equilibrium analysis. The magnitude and economic and environmental releva...