This paper revisits the problem of estimating ex ante cost functions previously studied by Pope and Just (1996) and Moschini (2001). An ex ante cost function that generalizes their ex ante cost functions is introduced, and an econometric procedure for estimating a flexible approximation to it is developed. That generalized cost function is economically relevant not only for the Just and Pope (1...

Th is research examines the ex-ante optimal U.S. Social Security benefi t structure using the model developed in Nishiyama and Smetters (2007). Whereas NS2007 analyzed the effi ciency of diff erent, specifi c alternative designs of the U.S. Social Security system, the current paper attempts to derive the ex-ante best system design among a larger range of diff erent potential Social Security fo...

We study ex post information rents in sequential screening models where the agent receives private ex ante and ex post information. The principal has to pay ex post information rents for preventing the agent to coordinate lies about his ex ante and ex post information. When the agent’s ex ante information is discrete, these rents are positive, whereas they are zero in continuous models. Consequ...

We propose a model for the aggregate stock market together with its dividend yield and earnings yield so that the ex-ante risk premium could be extracted in an unobserved component modelling framework. We posit the model as a linked stochastic differential equation system and the linking variable is the ex-ante risk premium. By hypothesising a realistic dynamic structure for the ex-ante risk pr...

We study repeated irreversible investment. We assume that ex ante ownership rights are incomplete and ex post property allocation is endogenous. In a stage game, principal can renege on ex ante contract with agents (investors). To capture that ownership rights depend on prior arrangements, we introduce a dynamic game, in which player ex ante ownership shares are equal to their ex post shares in...

This paper explores the extent to which ex ante transaction costs may lead to failures of the Coase Theorem. In particular we identify the basic hold-up problem that arises whenever the parties to a Coasian negotiation have to pay ex ante costs for the negotiation to take place. We then show that a Coasian solution to this problem is not available: a Coasian solution typically entails a negotia...

In this paper, we provide an axiomatic characterization of social welfare functions for uncertain incomes. Our most general result is that a small number of reasonable assumptions regarding welfare orderings under uncertainty rule out pure ex ante as well as pure ex post evaluations. Any social welfare function that satisfies these axioms should lie strictly between the ex ante and the ex post ...

The paper considers a hold-up model where only one of n future trading opportunities will prove to be efficient, and where ex post renegotiation of the ex ante contract cannot be prevented. As the environment becomes more complex (n→S ), the outcome under any message-contingent long-term contract converges to that of the ‘‘incomplete contracting’’ model where trade is contractible ex post, but ...

In addition to penalties imposed for breaches of statutory duties in the event of workplace accidents involving physical harms, New Zealand’s Health and Safety in Employment Act 1992 also provides for penalties where accidents have not occurred. Ordinary negligence rules are ex post in that both an accident and harm must occur before liability accrues, whereas ex ante liability rules create lia...

In a model with both issues of sovereign debtor moral hazard and creditor coordination under incomplete information, we show that the resulting con‡ict between ex ante and interim e¢ ciency limits the welfare impact of strengthening CACs. Conditional on default, we show that an interim e¢ cient CAC threshold exists and improving creditor coordination results in welfare gains. However, when ex a...