In this dissertation, structural models that utilize parametric and nonparametric approaches are developed that are used to measure competition and cost efficiency in the US banking industry (1990--96). Competition in loan and deposit markets is studied using the method of conjectural variations...

We propose an access price determination approach, where the only regulatory instrument is the interconnection charge. Retail prices are set by unconstrained profit maximizing firms. We present a two stage model, solved backwards. In the second stage, the two firms compete freely, taking the...

This dissertation focuses on the heterogeneous production technologies in banking and finance within the context of efficiency-analyses.The first essay studies the cost efficiency of Turkish banking industry. Studies of bank efficiency tend to draw conclusions from pooled estimates, assuming...

The simple market efficiency hypothesis implies that prediction errors, such as forward less spot exchange rates, will be orthogonal to elements of the information set. One can therefore test for market efficiency via ordinary least squares by regressing the prediction errors on pieces of...

Bilateral air service agreements have determined the nature of international air services through regulation of entry, service quality and pricing. Negotiations for such treaties reflect each government's aim to gain at least an equivalent right before granting certain traffic rights to the...

The thesis shows two possible ways in which intergenerational redistributions associated with a reform from a comprehensive income tax to a direct consumption tax are affected when the standard models studying this phenomenon are extended.The usual models studying the welfare impact of a direct...

This dissertation consists of four chapters. In the first chapter, a review is made of the research on international reserve demand in the last decade. The next three chapters offer alternative models of reserve demand. One motive for why foreign currencies are held by national central banks...

The thesis is divided into three essays. In the first essay, a two-by-two model is formulated in which changes in price are caused by technological progress that takes place in one sector. It is found that the factor used intensively in the sector where technology advances will be better off in...

The proportion of a unit of government's budget devoted to labor costs determines whether cost reductions at the metropolitan level are achieved through fragmentation or consolidation. Consolidating capital intense functions at higher levels of government is the optimal cost-reducing strategy....

My dissertation consists of two unrelated essays. In the first essay, "Wage Subsidy in an Optimal Redistribution Program", I analyze the efficiency of income transfers and wage subsidies as instruments of income redistribution in an optimal taxation framework. I extend the Mirrlees model (1971)...