This dissertation is an investigation into the determinants of demand for service contracts on new vehicles. In the first chapter, I characterize the consumer decision to buy a service contract with a discrete choice model. Hypotheses and conjectures are tested empirically using survey data from...

The Internet has a loosely hierarchical structure. At the top of the hierarchy are the backbones, also called Internet Access Providers (hereafter IAPs). The second layer of the hierarchy is comprised of Internet Service Providers (hereafter ISPs). At the bottom of the hierarchy are the end...

We introduce a spatial cost topology in thenetwork formation model analyzed by Jackson andWolinsky, Journal of Economic Theory 71 (1996), 44--74. This cost topology mightrepresent geographical, social, or individualdifferences. It describes variable costs ofestablishing social network...

Experimental observations have shown that economic agents behave in ways different from the maximization of any utility function. Herbert Simon sought to deal with this by positing that individuals do not maximize, but rather satisfice. This was a radical departure from the traditional economic...