‎Franchise Bidding for Natural Monopoly. - [NOBEL PRIZE IN ECONOMICS 2009 - INITIATING ""TRANSACTIONS-COST ECONOMICS""]‎

‎Worcester MA, The Heffernan Press, 1976. Royal8vo. In the original blue printed wrappers. In ""The Bell Journal of Economics"": Vol. 7, No. 1, Spring 1976. Entire volume offered. Very light wear to extremities otherwise a very fine and crisp copy (not ex-library). Pp. 73-104. [Entire volume: 353 pp.].‎

‎First printing of Williamson's seminal paper - one of the most influential in economics of regulation - in which he argued that in the presence of uncertainty about future demand or costconditions, the transactions costs of writing a complete contract, contingent on all future outcomes is prohibitively costly. The paper initiated together with Goldberg's paper published the same year the new field of ""transactions-cost economics"".The paper was a contributing factor in Williamson being awarded the Nobel prize in Economics in 2009 for his "" work in economic governance.""In the paper he states that: ""A once-for-all auction for the provision of a natural monopoly service is, in practice, totally impractical. On the other hand, periodic re-tendering introduces its own problems. Most public utility industries require substantial sunk, long-lived investment - whether in distribution wires, rail lines, or telecommunications conduits. Where the life of this investment exceeds the life of the franchise, contractual arrangements must ensure continued investment and maintenance of the sunk asset. It may be difficult to verify the quality of the maintenance of the asset ex post. This is particularly the case where the quality dimension includes maintaining the human capital of the staff required to ensure the continued operation of the asset. In addition, the incumbent provider of the service is likely to have better quality information about the likely cost and demand characteristicsof the service, providing an informational advantage over potential rival bidders.To illustrate these ideas, Williamson used a case study based on the experience of tendering cable television franchises in Oakland, California. He concludes: That franchise bidding for cable television has superior properties to regulation is not transparent - Not only is simple franchise bidding - beset with numerous transactional difficulties, but the institutional infrastructure that predictably develops to check dysfunctional or monopoloid outcomes has many of the earmarks of regulation. Using modern language, Williamson highlights and emphasises the importance of transactions costs. Williamson introduced for the first time the notion that natural monopoly regulation can be viewed as a form of long-term contracting. That long-term contract incorporates mechanisms to allow for adjustment to changes in the environment: At the risk of over-simplification, regulation may be described contractually as a highlyincomplete form of long-term contracting in which (1) the regulatee is assured an overall fair rate of return, in exchange for which (2) adaptations to changing circumstances are successively introduced without the costly haggling that attends such changes when parties to the contract enjoy greater autonomy'.""‎

‎The Impoverished Superpower: Perestroika and the Burden of Soviet Military Spending‎

‎ICS Press 1990 350 pages 14 86x1 85x21 41cm. 1990. Broché. 350 pages.‎

4 Images

‎Bon Etat de conservation intérieur propre bonne tenue‎

‎Opuscules sur la rente foncière.‎

‎Paris, Guillaumin et Cie., 1854. (8), 321, (1) pp. 8vo. Sewn, uncut. Einaudi 5939. First edition. The question of the nature and evolution of ground rent remained topical among French speaking economists during the 19th century. The present work is in favour of Ricardo's theory and opinion concerning the question of "rent." - The pages 209-213 contain mathematical formula. The author's name is also written as: Volkov. ‎

‎La Banque d'Angleterre et les Banques d'Écosse.‎

‎Paris, Librairie de Guillaumin, 1867. 8vo. Bound in contemporary half calf with gilt lettering to spine. Hinges with little wear. Small library label pasted on to lower part of spine. A few library stamps pasted on to the first few pages. Otherwise a fine copy. XI, (1), 560 pp.‎

‎First edition. Louis Wolowski played an important part in the foundation of the Crédit Foncier, whose principal object was the withdrawal of rural property from the expenses of loans and hypothecary subrogation. A bimetallist in monetary matters and a free trader in commercial matters, he did not carry economic liberalism so far as to oppose all State intervention in the matter of labour on the contrary, he had a very important share in the law of 19 May, 1871, which limited the labour of children and women in manufacturing, and which created division inspectors for the supervision of labour.‎

‎De Salario, seu operariorum mercede Tractatus in tres partes distinctus, In quo quaestiones omnes, tàm ad Theoricam, quàm ad Praxim pertinentes proponuntur, pertractantur, resoluuntur, ..... Cum Duplici Indice. Romae, Ex Typographia Nicolai Tinassi, 1658. - (Bound with:) ZACCHIA, L. Centuria Decisionum Ad Materiam Tractatus De Salario, et Operariorum Mercede.‎

‎Venetiis, Apud Turrinum, 1664. Title-page of the first work printed in red and black, both title-pages with a large woodcut vignette. Two works in one volume. (100), 404 (misnumbered 406) pp.; (76), 180 pp. Folio. Later half calf, spine with raised bands, label with gilt lettering, marbled boards, three vellum corners (vellum on one corner gone). Vinciana 1161 for the 1679 edition which was the first collected edition of these two works, these two separate original editions lack; Einaudi 6102 also the 1679 edition; Kress S.1150, first work only, second work not in Kress; Goldsmiths 1425, first work only, the second not in Goldsmiths; both not in Camus. Scarce first edition of both works. Lanfranco Zacchia was an Emilian jurist and the author of a Latin treatise (the present one) on wages which deserves mention for the rarity of the consideration of that subject in the days when he wrote. Zacchia distinguishes different forms of wages which he regards as the reward for any description of work. Wages are fixed by the monarch or the law, by custom or contract, and failing these, by a judge, who in fixing them should take account of the ability of the workman, the quality of his work, and the price of food. He also studies the judicial effects on wages of alterations in the value of money. The work deals with the subject in 110 questions or problems, both practical and theoretical, and treating numerous professions and sorts of work. Zacchia also deals, in various places, with the problem of usury.In the second work Zacchia has collected the rulings by the Sacra Rota concerning the same subject and also presents literature on wage related court cases. After the title-page there is the "Index Decisionum S. Rotae Romanae Tractatui de Salario seu Operariorum Mercede Annexarum" followed by the "Index Argumentorum Harum decisionum" and followed by the third index, the "Index Locupletissimus Harum decisionum, Alphabetica serie digestus.""Thanks to the many cases discussed, "De Salario" represents a very rich source for understanding early modern labour relations and it allows us to reconstruct the doctrine of salary during the two centuries after the Counter-Reformation" (Andrea Caracausi in: IRSH 56 (2011): The just wage in early modern Italy. A Reflection on Zacchia's "De Salario.")Both works printed in two columns per page.The woodcut on the first title-page shows the Madonna with Jesus while two angels place a crown on the Madonna's head. - Somewhat browned, somewhat heavier in places. ‎

‎Lehre vom richtigen Verhältnisse zu den Schöpfungswerken, und durch öffentliche Einführung derselben allein zu bewürkende algemeine Menschenbeglückung .... mit einer Musik von W.A. Mozart.‎

‎Zu Hamburg zu finden bei dem Herausgeber, (Privately Printed in Hamburg), 1792. With engraved frontispiece and 1 large folding engraved plate and 6 engraved plates by D. Chodowiecki, and 4 folding tables of music (8 pages) by W.A. Mozart. (10), 633 pp. 8vo. Contemporary marbled boards, lighty rubbed, preserved in a fine morocco and gilt backed folding case. Rümann 1299; Schröder 4549; Music in Geschichte und Gegenwart, 896; Koechel 619; Lanckoronska, Maria und Oehler, Richard, Die Buchillustration des XVIII. Jahrhunderts in Deutschland, Österreich und der Schweiz, ii, 119-120 & 214; and see the study by Barbara Richter, Franz Heinrich Ziegenhagen, Leben, Werk und Wirken eines engagierten Kaufmanns und Philanthropen im zeitalter der Aufklärung (2003). First edition of this beautifully illustrated and major work of utopian socialism by the industrialist Franz Heinrich Ziegenhagen (1753-1806), a utopian freemason, who also provided a libretto for a music commission for Mozart bound in at the end (see note below). This is also the first printing of this Mozart cantata ! Franz Heinrich Ziegenhagen was a German merchant and social reformer. He was brought up in the spirit of Pietism but abandoned his protestant faith later in his life and turned into a radical critic of religion. He was succesful as a merchant but never gave up his literary and reforming persuits. He put his entire fortune at the disposal for the spread of his works and ideas and the financial support of the various projects aiming at the practical realization of his ideas. Ziegenhagen died poor and alone in 1806.In Lehre vom richtigen Verhältnis zu den Schöpfungswerken und die durch öffentliche Einfürung desselben allein zu bewürkende algemeine Menschenbeglükkung, Ziegenhagen justifies and describes his utopian project: an attempt at establishing an independent, self-sufficient separate colony based on agricultural as well as innovative educational principles. His ideal was to create a "Erziehungs-kommune" (Educational commune) where children would be brought up without distinction based on titles, financial background or status of whatever nature and where education would not just be theoretical but also practical. The institute was intended to be later transferred into a community with collective property and based on the ideas of Rousseau with a balance between man and nature.Ziegenhagen founded an agricultural property in Billwerder, by Hamburg, and appealed in vain to wealthy citizens, the aristocracy and even the French Convention to support similiar institutions. The project failed and after 12 years he sold the Billwerder property and returned to his Elsass homeland in 1802 where he committed suicide four years later. Chodowiecki's marvelous large folding engraved plate depicts the realization of the author's ideals and having him riding on horseback through the gardens and buildings with various related events happening. Daniel Nicolaus Chodowiecki, the eminent German painter and engraver was one of the best and most sought after illustrators of his time and the beautiful and lively engravings of this book by Chodowiecki add further to the book's importance. The folding engraved frontispiece depicts a large lecture room with natural history illustrations on the walls and a very ornate organ on the far wall. The breathtaking view of the author riding through the colony has already been mentioned. The other engravings depict various classrooms with students studying electrical experiments, using various types of other scientific instruments for experiments as well as learning crafts and skills with a view of a blacksmiths shop. The last plate shows a group of students dissecting a pig with a "Kunst-Kammer" in the background.Perhaps most delightful about this book is the first appearance of a "little German cantata" ("Die ihr des unermeßlichen Weltalls ....") which was composed by Mozart in 1791, the same year as his "Magic Flute" which was also greatly influenced by Masonic imagery. The cantata was intended as an inaugural work for the projected community and was scored for voice and keyboard. Ziegenhagen provided the libretto and commissioned Mozart for the music. The work reflects the authors philosophy and speaks of pacifism and universal brotherhood, with an oblique reference to naturism ! All of this reflects the liberal philosophy of the time, with which Mozart would have come into contact as a member of the Viennese Masonic Lodge. The work here was composed for soprano and piano and later composers would add orchestral arrangements as well as string quartets. Ziegenhagen's connection with Mozart has not been satisfactorily established to date. The autograph of K.619 is at the library of the University of Uppsala, Sweden. ‎

‎Anmærkninger til Hr. Professor Bangs nyere Betænkninger om den nye Mynt Indretning i Holsteen.‎

‎Kiøbenhavn, Lauritz Christian Simmelkiær, 1787. Uden omslag. 44 pp.‎

‎Originaltrykket. Zoëga var en af hovedmændene bag planerne om at skabe et pengevæsen i Hertugdømmerne med sedler, der var indløselige med sølv. - Bibl. Danica II:854.‎