Recent theoretical research has identified many ways how contracts can be used as rent-seeking devices vis-à-vis third parties, but there is no empirical evidence on this issue so far. To test some basic qualitative properties of this literature, we develop a theoretical and empirical framework...

Abatement can be performed by measures that have an impact on present emissions, but no lasting effect, and by long-lived infrastructure investments. We study the optimal combination of short and long-lived options for reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, by specifying abatement cost...

In this paper we study Binomial Models with random time steps. We explain, how calculating values for European and American Call and Put options is straightforward for the Random-Time Binomial Model. We present the conditions to ensure weak-convergence to the Black-Scholes setup and convergence...

Microsimulation models of the LOTTE system are key tools for tax policy-making in Norway and are extensively used in the budget process. The aim of this paper is to give an overview of the different modules in the LOTTE family - a non-behavioral tax-benefit model for personal income tax...

Population projections are predominantly made using the cohort-component method (CCM). The opportunities for further development within that framework are limited. Lately, with advances in technical and computational capacity, the microsimulation framework has become a serious contender. In...

This paper describes a way of constructing an ECM algorithm such that it converges at the rate of the EM algorithm. The approach is motivated by the well known conjugate directions algorithm, and a special case of it is when the parameters corresponding to different CM steps are orthogonal....

The environmental remediation required to permanently decommission most industrial projects is an expensive and irreversible investment. Real options literature shows that temporarily closing a project and postponing decommissioning has value when economic conditions are uncertain and future...

This paper examines positive externalities and complementarities between countries in the use of antiviral pharmaceuticals to mitigate pandemic influenza. It demonstrates the presence of treatment externalities in simple SIR (susceptible-infectious-recovered) models and simulations of a Global...

A collective decision problem is described by a set of agents, a profile of single-peaked preferences over the real line and a number k of public facilities to be located. We consider public facilities that do not suffer from congestion and are non-excludable. We provide a characterization of...

The prevailing literature discusses intergenerational trade-offs predominantly in infinitely-lived agent models despite the finite lifetime of individuals. We discuss these trade-offs in a continuous time OLG framework and relate the results to the infinitely-lived agent setting. We identify...