Geoffrey A. Jehle

I am Professor of Economics in the Department of Economics at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York.

In the spring semester, I am teaching:

• Economics 215, The Science of Strategy

         Registered students Click here for course material.

• Economics 201, Microeconomic Theory

         Registered students Click here for course material.

When Vassar is not in session, I like spending time at my home in France.

• Would you like a quick tour?

How to reach me:

Email: jehle@vassar.edu

Telephone:

Office: (845) 437-5210
Fax: (845) 437-7576

Office: Blodgett 138

Office Hours:
Monday, 3:00--4:00pm
Wednesday, 3:00--4:00pm (except when it conflicts with Department meetings)
Friday, 10:00--12:00pm
And by appointment

Biographical Information

Honors/Awards: Phi Beta Kappa; Fulbright Senior Scholar, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 2001; Dana Fellow, Yale University, 1991; Iddo Sarnat Award for Best Paper of the Year, 1987, European Finance Association and Journal of Banking and Finance; Bourse Chateaubriand, Government of France, 1984.

Recent Publications: "Instruments of Trade Policy," in A. Lukauskas and A. Panagariya, Eds., Trade Policy for Development, Oxford University Press (forthcoming, 2008); "On the Geometry of Constant Returns," Journal of Economic Education, Winter 2002; Advanced Microeconomic Theory, 2nd. Ed. (with Philip J. Reny), Addison Wesley, 2001; "On Fringe Benefits and Layoffs," (with Marc O. Lieberman), Journal of Post-Keynesian Economics, Winter 1997-98, "Zakat and Inequality: Some Evidence from Pakistan," Review of Income and Wealth, 1994; Reply to a comment by Fitzroy & Hart, European Journal of Political Economy, 1994; "Inequality in Pakistan," Pakistan Journal of Applied Economics, 1994; "Optimal Implicit Contracts and the Choice Between Worksharing and Layoffs," (with M. O. Lieberman), European Journal of Political Economy, 1992; "An Islamic Perspective on Inequality in Pakistan", Pakistan Development Review, 1992; Advanced Microeconomic Theory, Prentice Hall, 1991; "A Note on Some Theorems in The Theory of International Trade," Eastern Economic Journal, 1989; "Regulation and The Public Interest in Banking," Journal of Banking and Finance, 1986; "Individual Welfare and the Demand for Financial Instruments," Southern Economic Journal 1984.

Working Papers:

• "On the Geometry of Constant Returns
• "Zakat and Inequality: Some Evidence from Pakistan
• "An Islamic Perspective on Inequality in Pakistan"
  
• "Inequality in Pakistan: a Social Welfare Approach"
• "Do Fringe Benefits Cause Layoffs?" (with M.O. Lieberman)
• "Optimal Implicit Contracts and the Choice between Layoffs and Work Sharing" (with M.O. Lieberman)

Current Research Interests: Poverty and inequality, implicit contracts, social choice and welfare.

Vassar Economics Working Paper Abstracts

For copies of any Vassar Economics Working Paper, contact suconger@vassar.edu

Number 2
Date: October 1989
Title: Optimal Implicit Contracts and the Choice Between Layoffs and Work Sharing
Author: Geoffrey A. Jehle and Marc O. Lieberman
ABSTRACT:
Implicit contract models of labor market equilibrium under work sharing and layoffs are constructed to examine several common explanations for the observed market bias in favor of layoffs. We first establish the optimality of work sharing in the absence of complicating factors. We then show that, contrary to the conventional view, fringe benefits can actually encourage work sharing, and that different hours and employment elasticities of output need not discourage it. Our findings confirm the view that tax distortions in the unemployment insurance system contribute to the bias toward layoffs. However, we show that unemployment benefits for those working reduced hours can help eliminate this bias.

Number 12
Date: October 1990
Title: Do Fringe Benefits Cause Layoffs?
Author: Geoffrey A. Jehle and Marc O. Lieberman
ABSTRACT:
It is commonly believed that firms prefer layoffs to worksharing, in part, because layoffs economize on fringe benefit costs. We find that when labor markets are characterized by optimal implicit contracts, layoffs will never occur in equilibrium, regardless of the level of fringe benefits.

Number 17
Date: August 1991
Title: Inequality in Pakistan: a Social Welfare Approach
Author: Geoffrey A. Jehle
ABSTRACT:
This paper presents new results on income distribution in Pakistan from an analysis of the full HIES data tapes for 1984-85, 1985-86, 1986-87, and 1987-88. An explicit social welfare methodology is adopted to measure changes in inequality at the national level, and within and across provinces, over the period. Estimated Lorenz curves for Pakistan and each of its provinces, in each of the four years, are provided, and cardinally significant Atkinson-Kolm-Sen ethical relative indices of inequality are computed. Strong evidence is found that income distribution in Pakistan improved from 1984-85 to 1987-88, and this conclusion is robust to a wide range of distributional values. Judgements on the trend in inequality over time within and across Pakistan's four provinces are shown to depend more heavily on the investigator's choice of distributional values.

Number 18
Date: October 1991
Title: An Islamic Perspective on Inequality in Pakistan
Author: Geoffrey A. Jehle
ABSTRACT:
This paper examines the distribution of income in Pakistan, and in each of its four provinces, from an explicit and formal Islamic perspective. A cardinally significant Atkinson--Kolm--Sen relative index of inequality reflecting that perspective is proposed and computed from the full HIES data series for the years 1984-85, 1985-86, 1986-87, and 1987-88. There is evidence of a significant decline in overall inequality in Pakistan from 1984-85 to 1987-88, but the level of inequality remains very high. Inter--province and inter--urban/rural differences in inequality profiles within Pakistan and each of its provinces are found to be generally less significant than intra--province and intra--urban/rural differences.

Number 28
Date: November 1993
Title: Zakat and Inequality: Some Evidence from Pakistan
Author: Geoffrey A. Jehle
ABSTRACT:
This paper presents empirical evidence on the extent to which zakat---a form of religiously-mandated charity under Islam---achieves its intended objective in Pakistan. Detailed income and expenditure data from Pakistan's Household Income and Expenditure Survey for 1987-88 are used to construct two income distributions---one containing the distribution of income which would have obtained if relevant forms of charity were not given, and one containing the distribution of income which obtains under a regime in which such charitable giving takes place. Atkinson-Kolm-Sen (AKS) ethical relative indices of income inequality are computed for Pakistan and each of its four provinces, for each of these two income distributions, and are compared over a range of parameter values. Evidence is found that zakat does redistribute from the better off to the worse-off, and so achieves some reduction in measured income inequality in Pakistan. Both intra-province and inter-province components of over-all inequality decline, though the amount of change is generally small. These conclusions are shown to be robust to a wide range of normative values the investigator may select.

Number 49
Date: August 2000
Title: On the Geometry of Constant Returns
Author: Geoffrey A. Jehle
ABSTRACT:
Constant returns to scale, always a simplifying assumption, is often also much more: many important results depend critically on the very special properties of this class of production function. This paper provides a unified set of simple proofs for most of the crucial analytical properties of constant returns production and their implications for firm costs. Only familiar diagrams and high school geometry are used, and the proofs are written to be easily accessible to college sophomores.