"And I-- am I the first-best ...?" asked Ishmael in a low voice.    From Wordnik.com.  [Secret Bread] Reference

If the first-best is not feasible, then I choose the 2nd please.    From Wordnik.com.  [Second Best and Socialist Calculation, Eric Crampton | EconLog | Library of Economics and Liberty] Reference

But I said the first-best position is that it applies as a matter of law.    From Wordnik.com.  [The Tale of the Tape: The Transcript] Reference

See my recent remarks on Dani Rodrik's discussion of first-best and second-best economists.    From Wordnik.com.  [Phelps on capitalism - The Austrian Economists] Reference

I believe that relatively few economists would include the minimum wage as part of their first-best package of policies.    From Wordnik.com.  [Minimum Wage Increase as a Second Best Policy Response to Poverty] Reference

In some limited cases, corruption may be a second-best solution, but it's never first-best and frequently causes problems.    From Wordnik.com.  [Iraq and the Corruption Trap, Arnold Kling | EconLog | Library of Economics and Liberty] Reference

The first-best solution outlined here is therefore not feasible when individuals 'productivity is their private information.    From Wordnik.com.  [Additional background material on the Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel 1996] Reference

The optimal contract will then approximate the solution to the Arrow-Debreu first-best solution under symmetric information.    From Wordnik.com.  [Additional background material on the Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel 1996] Reference

The theoretical first-best solution is for the state to finance idea-creation and make ideas available to the public for free.    From Wordnik.com.  [Tyrone Posts on Health Care, Arnold Kling | EconLog | Library of Economics and Liberty] Reference

They deliberately want to avoid the first-best solution and plump for a much riskier second-best, driven entirely by PR considerations?.    From Wordnik.com.  [BP's Photoshopped Command Center Just The Latest In A Pattern Of Deception] Reference

Minimum wage laws are a second-best solution to the problem where the first-best solutions (simple transfers to the poor) aren't politically viable.    From Wordnik.com.  [Think Before You Sign, Bryan Caplan | EconLog | Library of Economics and Liberty] Reference

England has come off first-best in this matter, that Mr. Trollope should have made a feature of the Trent in reporting the state of the American pulse thereon.    From Wordnik.com.  [The Continental Monthly, Vol. 2, No 3, September, 1862 Devoted to Literature and National Policy.] Reference

Which, as Rodrik might have it, “allows each expert in a field to propose first-best solutions in that field, leaving complications elsewhere to be dealt with by others.”.    From Wordnik.com.  [I Am Firm; You Are Stubborn; He Is Pig-Headed] Reference

Abiding by liberal basic laws is not a citizen's second-best compromise in the face of the power of others, but each citizen's first-best option given what they themselves believe.    From Wordnik.com.  [John Rawls] Reference

Laws passage presents as the “first-best” city, not that of the Republic, but one in which there is, throughout the entire city, a community of property and of women and children.    From Wordnik.com.  [Plato on utopia] Reference

There was a furious scramble, but Hugh came out of it first-best, for he bore away the little elusive rubber disc, and managed to carry it some distance down toward Keyport's goal before losing control.    From Wordnik.com.  [The Chums of Scranton High at Ice Hockey] Reference

You know all the time that it is only the second-best, but you think to yourself, 'Suppose the first-best never comes along for me, and I have said No to this, then there'll be nothing but a third-best to fall back on.'.    From Wordnik.com.  [Secret Bread] Reference

Cohn then have the first-best answer to a question all day.    From Wordnik.com.  [The Laboratorium] Reference

"And correction: I am the first-best looking guy in this room.".    From Wordnik.com.  [The Seattle Times] Reference

Your first-best candidate is A, who agrees with you on all the issues.    From Wordnik.com.  [Forbes.com: News] Reference

Of course a PEP program is not the first-best policy for unemployment.    From Wordnik.com.  [Kevin D. Rollins] Reference

The first-best answer - that is, the answer that economic models, like my old.    From Wordnik.com.  [US Market Commentary from Seeking Alpha] Reference

The best of it is in the up-stairs work, and waiting at table is the first-best chance of all.    From Wordnik.com.  [The Other Girls] Reference

Top-ten picks are usually the first-best or second-best prospects in a weak system the second they sign.    From Wordnik.com.  [McCovey Chronicles] Reference

When a security gain can be leveraged, development projects may need to be suboptimal economically - "good enough" rather than first-best.    From Wordnik.com.  [IntelliBriefs] Reference

Why did Ben Bernanke, widely respected among economists as both a scholar and gentleman, support a rescue plan that very few of his colleagues considered "first-best" or even.    From Wordnik.com.  [Financial Sector and Stocks Analysis from Seeking Alpha] Reference

Ezra is, of course, a “second-best” type, while his libertarian friends (I suppose that’s me) tend to be “first-best” sorts.    From Wordnik.com.  [I Am Firm; You Are Stubborn; He Is Pig-Headed] Reference

It’s the first-best example of the convergence of character drama, high-stakes adventure, and stupid-awesome Luffy, and it just killed me.    From Wordnik.com.  [Resetting sail] Reference

The primary cure for what ails the economy – what economists sometimes call the first-best – doesn’t come from Congress or the president.    From Wordnik.com.  [Recovery is still job No. 1] Reference

The more closely you think the “first-best” model comes to approximating reality, the more concerned you’ll be with how political failure might muck things up.    From Wordnik.com.  [I Am Firm; You Are Stubborn; He Is Pig-Headed] Reference

We are trying to create cultural practices – not just stories, as with Tushnet’s paper, but practices to create ideology and political support for the first-best solution.    From Wordnik.com.  [Cultural Environmentalism at 10: Molly van Houweling] Reference

So why not just go for the first-best?.    From Wordnik.com.  [Robert Kuttner: The Policy That Dare Not Speak Its Name] Reference

"I suppose you feel a little sore about this scrape, for you don't come out first-best in it.    From Wordnik.com.  [Down The River Buck Bradford and His Tyrants] Reference

The first-best was a charcoal-gray Subaru XT6.    From Wordnik.com.  [Pharyngula] Reference

It's a second-best argument -- coordinated policy is the first-best answer.    From Wordnik.com.  [Dave Johnson: Stimulus Package's Buy American Clause In The News] Reference