This dissertation consists of three essays that apply both economic theory and econometric methods to understand design and dynamics of institutions. In particular, it studies how institutions aggregate information and deal with uncertainty and attempts to derive implications for optimal...

Gradient-based approaches to direct policy search in reinforcement learning have received much recent attention as a means to solve problems of partial observability and to avoid some of the problems associated with policy degradation in value-function methods. In this paper we introduce GPOMDP,...

This paper discusses a set of statistics for examining and comparing labor market dynamics based on the estimation of continuous time Markov transition processes. It then uses these to establish stylized facts about dynamic patterns of movement using panel data from Argentina, Brazil and Mexico....

In this paper, we explore a dynamical version of by Aoki and Yoshikawa model (AYM) for an economy driven by demand. We show that when an appropriate Markovian dynamics is taken into account, AYM has different equilibrium distributions depending on the form of transition probabilities. In the...

In this paper, the authors explore a dynamical version of the Aoki and Yoshikawa model (AYM) for an economy driven by demand. They show that when an appropriate Markovian dynamics is taken into account, the AYM has different equilibrium distributions depending on the form of transition...

In this dissertation we present mathematical models that help answer health policy questions relating to HIV and Hepatitis C (HCV), and analyze bias in Markov models of disease progression. We begin by developing a Markov decision process model that examines the timing of testing and treatment...

This paper studies airline customers' online search and purchase behaviors. Twofundamental aspects of online behavior are examined: (1) the link between searchbehavior and buying behavior and (2) the evolution of inter-temporal search andpurchase decisions of strategic buyers.In the first study,...

Informality is a salient feature of labor market in Egypt as it is the case with many developing countries. This is the first study of the determinants of worker transitions between various labor market states using panel data from Egypt. We first provide a diagnosis of dynamic worker flows...

Informality has long been a salient phenomenon in developing country labor markets, thus has been addressed in several theoretical and empirical research. Turkey, given its economic and demographic dynamics, provides rich evidence for a growing, heterogeneous and multifaceted informal labor...