Semester
Summer
Date of Graduation
2014
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Type
PhD
College
Chambers College of Business and Economics
Department
Economics
Committee Chair
Paul J. Speaker
Committee Co-Chair
Roger D. Congleton
Committee Member
Joshua C. Hall
Committee Member
Amanda Ross
Committee Member
Russell S. Sobel
Abstract
This dissertation is a collection of three essays which explores how public choice and public finance issues affect the provision and production of local public goods. This dissertation looks specifically at the provision of forensic science services. Chapter 2 explores the methodology in measuring how public or private a good is, and finds that ignoring the "zoo effect" can cause upward bias in the measurement of how private a good is. Chapter 3 estimates the cost differences between nationally and locally operated forensic science laboratories, and using an average total cost function, determines that nationally operated laboratories are not more or less efficient than sub-national laboratories. Finally, chapter 4 explores the Leviathan model, and finds that governments can, and in the case of the Deficit Reduction Act of 1984 do, operate in ways that reduce tax revenues.
Recommended Citation
McAndrew, William P., "Three essays on the political economy of forensic science" (2014). Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports. 420.
https://researchrepository.wvu.edu/etd/420