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JEL - Previous Issues

     Vol. 41, Issue: 4 - December 2003
     Vol. 41, Issue: 3 - September 2003
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JEL - December 2003

Articles in this Issue
(or browse Issue in new window)

Understanding the Soft Budget Constraint (pp. 1095 - 1136)

The Economic Design of Sporting Contests (pp. 1137 - 1187)

Which Is the Fairest One of All? A Positive Analysis of Justice Theories (pp. 1188 - 1239)

Sraffa, Wittgenstein, and Gramsci (pp. 1240 - 1255)

Meltzer's History of the Federal Reserve (pp. 1256 - 1271)

Book Reviews (pp. 1272 - 1332)

Annotated Listing of New Books (pp. 1333 - 1448)

JEL Classification System (pp. 1449 - 1460)

Doctoral Dissertations in Economics (pp. 1461 - 1483)

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Journal of Economic Literature

Vol. 41, No. 4, December 2003

Understanding the Soft Budget Constraint János Kornai, Eric Maskin and Gérard Roland
Article Citation
Kornai, János, Eric Maskin, and Gérard Roland. 2003. "Understanding the Soft Budget Constraint." Journal of Economic Literature, 41(4): 1095–1136.
DOI:10.1257/002205103771799999
Abstract
We propose a clarification of the notion of a soft budget constraint, a concept widely used in the analysis of socialist, transitional, and market economies. Our interpretation is broad enough to embrace most existing approaches to soft budget constraint phenomena and provides a classification of their causes and consequences. In light of this interpretation, we then review the theoretical literature on the subject and compare it with those on other dynamic commitment problems in economics.

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Authors

Kornai, János
Maskin, Eric
Roland, Gérard

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