User-provided connectivity (UPC) services offer a possible alternative, orcomplement, to existing infrastructure-based connectivity. A userallows other users to occasionally connect through its "home base" inexchange for reciprocation, or possibly compensation. This service modelexhibits strong...

Should a new ``platform'' target a functionality-rich but complex andexpensive design or instead opt for a bare-bone but cheaper one? This is afundamental question with profound implications for the eventual success ofany platform. A general answer is, however, elusive as it involves a...

Alternate Models for Forecasting Hedge Fund ReturnsMichael HoldenFaculty Sponsor: Gordon Dash, Finance and Decision SciencesInvestors have always wanted to improve the efficiency of modeling realized volatility to maximize directional trading returns and substantially improve profitability. As...

Bond Volatility Transmissions Between United States and European MarketsSeth KulmanFaculty Sponsor: Gordon Dash, Finance and Decision SciencesRecent events have illustrated the degree of connection between the world’s economies. Economic events occurring in one country are felt in countless...

Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEVs) will soon start to be introduced into the transportation sector, thereby raising a host of issues related to their use, adoption and effects on the electricity sector. Their introduction has the potential to significantly reduce carbon emissions from the...

New network technologies constantly seek to displace incumbents. Their success depends on technological superiority, the size of the incumbent’s installed base, users’ adoption behaviors, and various other factors. The goal of this paper is to develop an understanding of competition between...

A pension plan often tends to be one of the company’s biggest liabilities. Before 2008, pension plans were not directly included in the financial statements, but could only be found in the footnote disclosures. Such accounting convention essentially made pensions a type of off-balance sheet...

Valuing American options is a central problem in option pricing since the early-exercise feature is very common among financial or insurance derivatives products. For high-dimensional American options, Monte Carlo simulation is generally regarded as the only viable approach to price them, and...

The thesis consists of three main chapters on optimal incentives for a multi-level allocation process of HIV/AIDS prevention funds. HIV/AIDS prevention funds often traverse several levels of distribution. At each level, equity-based heuristics are often used by decision-makers that may lead to...

Coined as Country-Led Development, President Barack Obama’s administration, through USAID, has put a priority on shifting the development approach. The administration is now focusing on directly funding local institutions to assume ownership of their development needs, as opposed to the...