In Search of Regulatory Alternatives
本文批评了美国邮政服务在定价中误用逆弹性规则，指出问题在于应用而非规则本身，并论证了正确应用该规则作为政策工具的重要性。
THE PRICING POLICY To set postal rates the Postal Rate Commission and the United OF THE POSTAL States Postal Service have employed a pricing policy known as SERVICE: the inverse elasticity rule. In a sharply critical article in this ECONOMICS journal,1 William Tye elevates the rule to demoniacal proportions. MISAPPLIED* But the Postal Service's misapplication of the rule, not the rule itself, should be the object of criticism. Tye's misdirection of blame Frank A. Scott, Jr. leads him to dismiss the rule as simplistic. A less simplistic analysis reveals the significance of the rule, correctly applied, as a policy tool.