Airline Non-Price Competition Between FSC and LCC Carriers: Varying Airline Optimization Strategies
by Lucas Johnson Abstract The goal of this paper is to extend the discourse surrounding certain topics in terms of airline optimization which is defined in this paper as the ability of an airline to efficiently transport goods and passengers as well as accrue revenue from its airplanes relative to its total capacity to transport […]
The Cost of Delay: Evidence from the Ethereum Transaction Fee Market
by Yinhong “William” Zhao Abstract Delaying a financial transaction can be costly, but the cost of delay is difficult to estimate in traditional finance. I exploit the unique data offering and market design of the Ethereum blockchain to estimate the cost of delaying financial transactions in decentralized finance (DeFi). I construct a dynamic auction model […]
Generic Entry and The Effect on Prices in the Prescription Drug Market
by Sahana Giridharan Abstract Drug firms have utilized a variety of strategies that contribute to rising drug prices in the U.S. for the last few years. Strategic entry timing and number of indications a drug is approved might be two factors that contribute to this rise in prices. While there have been some studies uncovering […]
Taxing Marijuana and the Road to Reparations: Comparing the Colorado and Illinois Cannabis Markets
by Tommaso Carlo Filippo Babucci Abstract Although still prohibited at the federal level, cannabis can now be found on the shelves of recreational dispensaries across thirty-three U.S states. This thesis examines the development of this legal market from both historical and empirical perspectives. Using a new data set, it estimates the determinants of cannabis sales […]
The Upstream and Downstream Effects of Government Industrial Policy in the Rare Earth Elements Industry
By Charles Daniel The Chinese government has found considerable success in stimulating economic modernization through its industrial policy. The development of the rare earths industry, in both upstream and downstream markets, exemplifies this success. Rare earths are a group of metals whose natural properties make them critical for many pieces of modern technology. Upstream, Chinese […]
Competition and Innovation: Evidence from Third-Party Reprocessing in the Medical Device Industry
By Varun Prasad Healthcare is projected to soon become the industry with the largest amount of spending on research and development in the world. While competition has the potential to catalyze the development of new healthcare technologies and drive down costs, increases in competition have also been thought to hinder innovation as a result […]
Pricing and Pack Size Brand, Quantity, and Cost Considerations in Pricing Multipacks of Toothpaste
By Stephanie Wiehe The US market for toothpaste, like many other goods, is shifting towards selling in bulk. Multipacks of toothpaste require quantity discounts to incentivize consumers, making buying in bulk a great deal for the savings-minded toothpaste-shopper. It is more difficult to understand, however, producers’ willingness to sell multipacks of toothpaste, when margins are […]
Deterring Ineffcient Gambling in Risk-Taking Agents
By Ryan Westphal This paper proposes a model describing the incentive issues faced by principals and agents when the agent has limited liability and is capable of undertaking unidentifiable, inefficient risky behavior. We propose a contract structure by which the principal deters risk by deferring payment to the agent until she reaches an absorbing steady-state […]
Competition from Incumbent Firms During Mergers: Estimating the Effect of Low-Cost Carriers on Post-Merger Prices
By Jonathan Gao In an evaluation of a merger, the type of existing competitors in the market should play a role in constraining market power following the merger. In the airline industry, heterogeneity between low-cost carriers (LCCs) and legacy carriers suggest that the types of airline competitors could affect the price effects of a merger. […]
Understanding SME Finance: Determinants of Relationship Lending
By Sean Suk Hyun Choi Much of the existing literature in small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) finance surveys the impact of borrower and lender characteristics on firms’ credit availability, and it has already been established that there is a link between strong firm-bank relationship and higher level of credit availability. In this paper, I focus […]