Flexibility and adjustment to information in sequential decision problems : a systematic approach

This book provides a systematic approach to sequential decision problems from the vantage point of economic theory. The emphasis is on the interplay between irreversibility, uncertainty and information. In particular, it is shown how flexibility (liquidity) considerations can be modelled in a general choice-theoretical framework. The book ties together differentstrands of literature. This aim is achieved by working in a sufficiently general framework that is illustrated by means of examples from capital and investment theory, environmental economics (including option value theory), monetary theory and management science. The systematic treatment of the subject is novel. In addition, a considerable number of newresults are proved, particularly in chapter 3. The reader can expect a relatively straightforward introduction to central ideas of intertemporal decision problems under uncertaintly, which he/she would otherwise have to extract from a rather disperse literature