This dissertation investigates some of the ways efficiency wages are important to both the U.S. economy and research in economics. The first section develops a model to investigate the likely effects of the decline of references in the United States. Survey data and anecdotal evidence makes it...

Essay 1 provides an analytical model for risk segmentation in the perfectly competitive consumer loan market by incorporating the fact that a parental durable good seller with market power to some degree in its product market can earn rents. In this context, there is a gain to granting credit...

This dissertation consists of four essays which examine the industrial organization of retail gasoline markets. In particular, each essay studies issues involving product differentiation. Each essay employs a data set which includes detailed information on every gasoline station in the...

This thesis includes two essays analyzing two separate topics. The first essay investigates the role of asymmetric information in explaining one of the major puzzles in International Finance. The second essay investigates what kind of performance information that the financial institutions use...