Allan Feldman does research in welfare economics, law and economics, and the value of life.

My main research interests remain welfare economics, law and economics, and the value of life.

Roberto Serrano and I have finished writing Welfare Economics and Social Choice Theory, 2nd Edition , and it was published by Springer at the beginning of 2006. Major new chapters in the 2nd edition are: welfare properties of jungle exchange, uncertainty in exchange, life and death choices, implementation in Nash equilibrium, and implementation in Bayseian equilibrium. Many other chapters have substantial new material, including the following: expected utility theory, consumers' surplus and cost-benefit analysis, multidimensional voting theory, and a new and transparent version of Arrow's theorem.

"The Hand Rule and United States v. Carroll Towing Co. Reconsidered," Working Paper 2002-27, joint with Jeonghyun Kim, was published in the American Law and Economics Review (fall 2005). This paper examines the U.S. v. Carroll Towing case carefully, and argues that Judge Hand's negligence test was different from what is assumed by modern theorists, and in fact would have allowed inefficient game equilibria.

Another paper, "Victim or Injurer: Negligence-Based Liability Rules Under Role-Type Uncertainty, With an Extension to Collisions of Different-Sized Vehicles," Working Paper 2003-17, also joint with Jeonghyun Kim, has been revised and resubmitted. This paper modifes the standard tort liability model by introducing uncertainty about which party would be the victim in an accident, and which would be the injurer. It also develops a model of motor vehicle accidents, which relates the victim/injurer dichotomy to the vehicle sizes of the two parties.

I am also interested in the abstract utilitarian theory of life/death choices.

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Feldman, Allan, "The Logic of Negligence-Based Liability Rules," 2006.

Feldman, Allan and Roberto Serrano, Welfare Economics and Social Choice Theory, 2nd Edition, Springer, 2006.

Feldman, Allan, "Discounting in Forensic Economics," in R. Kaufman, J. Rodgers, G. Martin (eds.), Economic Foundations of Injury and Death Damages, Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd., Cheltenham, 2005, pp. 421-427.

Feldman, Allan and Jeonghyun Kim, "The Hand Rule and United States v. Carroll Towing Co. Reconsidered," American Law and Economics Review, Vol. 7, No. 2, 2005, pp. 523-543.

Feldman, Allan and Jeonghyun Kim), "Victim or Injurer: Negligence-Based Liability Rules Under Role-Type Uncertainty, With an Extension to Collisions of Different-Sized Vehicles," Brown University Economics Department Working Paper No. 2003-17. (Revised December 20, 2005.)

Feldman, Allan, "A Very Unsubtle Version of Arrow's Impossibility Theorem," in T. Cowen, ed., Economic Welfare, Edward Elgar, Cheltenham, UK, 1999.

Feldman, Allan, "Value of Life, Value of Time, and Constant Relative Risk Aversion Utility," Brown University Economics Department Working Paper No. 98-13, 1998.

Feldman, Allan and John Frost, "A Simple Model of Efficient Tort Liability Rules," International Review of Law and Economics, Vol. 18, No. 2, 1998, pp. 201-215.

Feldman, Allan, "Pareto Optimality," in P. Newman (ed.), The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics and the Law, Macmillan Reference Ltd., London, Vol. 3, 1998, pp. 5-10.

Feldman, Allan, "Kaldor-Hicks Compensation," in P. Newman (ed.), The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics and the Law, Macmillan Reference Ltd., London, Vol. 2, 1998, pp. 417-421.

Feldman, Allan, "Bilateral Trading Processes, Pairwise Optimality, and Pareto Optimality," in G. Chichilnisky (ed.), Mathematical Economics, Edward Elgar, Cheltenham, UK, 1998.

Feldman, Allan, "Probabilistic Value of Life vs. Deterministic Value of Time," Brown University Economics Department Working Paper No. 97-22, 1997.

Feldman, Allan, "The Value of Life Revisited," Brown University Economics Department Working Paper No. 96-2, 1996.

Feldman, Allan, "Buying Time: A Model of the Dollar Value of Extra Years of Life," Brown University Economics Department Working Paper No. 95-31, 1995.

Feldman, Allan, "The Value of Life," Brown University Economics Department Working Paper No. 94-21, 1994.

Feldman, Allan, "Lesson on Capitalism Fails in Translation," Providence Journal, February 3, 1991.

Feldman, Allan, "Bay State's Budget Problems a Window on Rhode Island," Providence Journal, November 25, 1990.

Andrews, John and Allan Feldman, "Report on Admissions Criteria and Honor Grades," Brown University Internal Report, April 1990.

Feldman, Allan, "Discounting in Forensic Economics," Journal of Forensic Economics, V. 3, No. 2, 1990, pp. 65-71.

Feldman, Allan, "Manipulating Voting Procedures," in S. Baker and C. Elliott (eds.), Economics of the Public Sector: Readings and Commentary, D.C. Heath Co., Lexington, MA, 1990.

Feldman, Allan, "Taxation Rhode Island Style," Providence Journal, March 7, 1989.

Feldman, Allan, "Weighing the Values of Pensions as Marital Assets: Some Potential Pitfalls," Rhode Island Bar Journal, Vol. 37, Number 6, March 1989, pp. 23-24.

Feldman, Allan, "Selecting a Discount Rate," Journal of Forensic Economics, V. 2, No. 2, April 1989, p. 84.

Feldman, Allan, "Bilateral Trading Processes, Pairwise Optimality, and Pareto Optimality," in R. Starr (ed.), General Equilibrium Models of Monetary Economics: Studies in the Static Foundations of Monetary Theory, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc., Cambridge, MA, 1989.

Feldman, Allan, "LOSS," 1989-2006. SOFTWARE

Feldman, Allan, "Real Interest Rates and Total Offset in Computations of Damages in Death and Disability Cases," Connecticut Bar Journal, Vol. 62, No. 4, August 1988, pp. 212-230.

Feldman, Allan and K.H. Lee, "Existence of Electoral Equilibria with Probabilistic Voting," Journal of Public Economics, Vol. 35, 1988, pp. 205-227.

Feldman, Allan, J. Kirman and D. Feinstein), "Brown University Economic Impact Study," Brown University Internal Report, October, 1988.

Feldman, Allan, (With Brokers' Service Corporation), "DamageCalc: The Economic Loss Calculation System," 1987. SOFTWARE

Feldman, Allan, "Welfare Economics," in J. Eatwell, M. Milgate & P. Newman (eds.), The New Palgrave, The Stockton Press, New York, 1987, Vol. 4, pp. 889-895.

Feldman, Allan, "Equity," in J. Eatwell, M. Milgate & P. Newman (eds.), The New Palgrave, The Stockton Press, New York, 1987, Vol. 2, pp. 183-184.

Feldman, Allan, "With Cut Services and Higher Taxes," Providence Journal, March 18, 1987.

Feldman, Allan, "What R.I. Must Do in Order to Afford a $14-Million Cut in Tax Revenues," Providence, Journal, February 16, 1986.

Feldman, Allan, "Funding Comparable Worth for Women Workers," Providence Journal, May 17, 1985.

Feldman, Allan, "A Model of Majority Voting and Growth in Government Expenditures," Public Choice, Vol. 46, No. 1, 1985, pp. 3-17.

Feldman, Allan, "Tax Adjustment as a Subterfuge," Providence Journal, March 30, 1985.

Feldman, Allan, "Seeing the Compact for What It Was," George Street Journal, V. 10, No. 5, October 30, 1984.

Feldman, Allan, "A Common Sense Alternative," Providence Journal, May 9, 1984.

Feldman, Allan, "What Happened to Rhode Island's Greenhouse Compact?" The Harvard Business & Government Newsletter, Fall 1984.

Feldman, Allan, "Sunset for Industrial Policy," Policy Review, No. 30, Fall 1984, pp. 84-86.

Feldman, Allan, D.J. Walker, B. Vohr, and W. Oh, "Cost-Benefit Analysis of Neonatal Intensive Care for Infants Weighing Less Than 1,000 Grams at Birth," Pediatrics, Vol. 74, No. 1, July 1984, pp. 20-25.

Diba, B. and Allan Feldman, "Utility Functions for Public Outputs and Majority Voting," Journal of Public Economics, Vol. 25, No. 2, 1984, pp. 235-243.

Feldman, Allan, "The Wonders of Accounting in the Greenhouse," Rhode Island Business Monthly, April 1984.

Borts, George and Allan Feldman, "Major Flaw in Greenhouse Compact," Providence Journal, December 30, 1983.

Borts, George and Allan Feldman, "Murray Magaziner: The Wrong Diagnosis, The Wrong Medicine," Providence Journal, November 4, 1983.

Feldman, Allan, Welfare Economics and Social Choice Theory (Japanese Translation), McGraw-Hill Kogakusha, Tokyo, Japan, 1983.

Feldman, Allan, "Strongly Nonmanipulable Multi-Valued Collective Choice Rules," Public Choice, Vol. 35, No. 4, 1980, pp. 503-509.

Feldman, Allan, Welfare Economics and Social Choice Theory, Martinus Nijhoff Publishing, Boston, 1980.

Feldman, Allan, "Manipulation and the Pareto Rule," Journal of Economic Theory, Vol. 21, No. 3, December, 1979, pp. 473-482.

Feldman, Allan, "Manipulating Voting Procedures," Economic Inquiry, Vol. 17, July, 1979, pp. 452-475.

Feldman, Allan and With D. Weiman, "Envy, Wealth, and Class Hierarchies," Journal of Public Economics, Vol. 11, February, 1979, pp. 81-91.

Feldman, Allan, "Nonmanipulable Multi-Valued Social Decision Functions," Public Choice, Vol. 34, No. 2, 1979, pp. 177-188.

Feldman, Allan, "A Very Unsubtle Version of Arrow's Impossibility Theorem," Economic Inquiry, Vol. 12, No. 4, December, 1974, pp. 534-546.

Kirman, A. P. and Allan Feldman, "Fairness and Envy," The American Economic Review, Vol. 64, No. 6, December, 1974, pp. 995-1005.

Feldman, Allan, "Recontracting Stability," Econometrica, Vol. 42, No. 1, January, 1974, pp. 35-44.

Feldman, Allan, "Bilateral Trading Processes, Pairwise Optimality, and Pareto Optimality," The Review of Economic Studies, Vol. 40, No. 4, October, 1973, pp. 463-473.

Phi Beta Kappa, Johns Hopkins University

N.D.E.A. (National Defense Education Act) Title IV Fellowships

Johns Hopkins University Fellowship

Richard D. Irwin Doctoral Fellowship

Listed in Who's Who in Economics , Second Edition, Third Edition (1986, 1999)

Listed in Who's Who in Rhode Island

Listed in Who's Who in the East , 23rd Edition, 24th Edition

Listed in Who's Who in Finance and Industry , 27th Edition

Listed in Who's Who in Finance and Business , 35th Edition

Listed in Who's Who in the World , 14th Edition

Listed in The Best Lawyers in America: Directory of Experts, (1991, 1992)

Listed in Who's Who in America , 57th Edition (2003)

Brown University Department of Economics Omicron Delta Epsilon "Teacher of the Year" award, May 2003.

July 1971 - June 1977, Assistant Professor of Economics, Brown University

Spring Semester, 1976, Affiliate Assistant Professor of Economics, Clark University

July 1977 - June 1978, Visiting Associate Professor, University of Virginia

July 1977 - present, Associate Professor of Economics, Brown University

Econ. 138. Economics and the Law. This course covers some of the main areas of law that have been analyzed by economists. These include property and nuisance law (connected to externalities, the Coase theorem, intellectual property, etc.); contract law and tort law (connected to two-person game theory models); and criminal law (analyzed in terms of minimization of net social costs.) It has a steady enrollment usually in excess of 50 students per year, and it serves undergraduates who either have some interest in legal careers, or some curiosity about how economic analysis might influence the "real" world. This course uses a teaching assistant. The TA is in charge of conference sections, and grading exams. I require that the TA attend my lectures, and I confer with her/him on a regular basis regarding student problems, progress with the course materials, etc.
Econ. 177. Investments. This is the central course in the business economics concentration. I cover standard topics, including the capital asset pricing model, the efficient market hypothesis, stocks, bonds, options, and futures. The course is especially notable, I think, because one of its central results (the mutual fund theorem) has a direct practical implication that students may find useful later in life. Students generally like this course because of the combination of real-world financial information and more abstract economic theory. This course also uses a teaching assistant, who is in charge of conference sections and grading exams. The TA has obligations and contacts with me, similar to the TA in Econ. 138.
Econ. 199. Independent Research. In 2004-2005 I supervised two students who wrote honors theses in economics.