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1
Workman, Eric R. Sr. "Historical Study of Burke's Garden High School: 1915 to 1960." Diss., Virginia Tech, 2012. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/28484.
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Burke's Garden High School was a small school established in 1915 that was located in a fertile farming community in the Appalachian Mountains of Southwest Virginia. The uniqueness of the geography of the area promoted a communal-based society whose citizens worked together for educational prosperity. This historical study documents the establishment of public education in Virginia, the demand for a public school in Burke's Garden, the establishment, operation, and closing of the school, as well as identifies the two career and technical education programs offered at the school, agricultural and home economics education.
The remoteness of the community presented challenges to operating a school. Issues such as maintaining student enrollment numbers as well as qualified teachers required the school system and the community to work with neighboring communities for the benefit of the school and community. The practice of boarding students and teachers was employed to increase the number of students as well as to provide additional support for teachers. Eventually, due to improved transportation methods, construction of a new high school in the neighboring community of Tazewell, Virginia, and the modernization of the farming industry, there were fewer children in Burke's Garden, which led to the closing of the high school in 1960.
Burke's Garden High School was one of five high schools operated in Tazewell County Public Schools from 1915 to 1960. Tazewell County, Virginia, has two distinct areas of economic dominance, the mining of coal and the production of agricultural products. Two historical studies of public schools in Tazewell County outline the relationship between specific communities and their schools: A Historic Coal Mining Community and Its School: A Study of Pocahontas High School 1908-1991, by Thomas Brewster (2000) and A Coal Camp and Its Classroom: A Historical Study of a Virginia Coal Camp and Its School 1888-1987, by Terry Mullins (1996). The two schools in these studies were both located in coal mining communities compared to Burke's Garden High School that was located in the agricultural section of Tazewell County.Ed. D.
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Cheix, Mathilde. "Jevons, Debreu and the foundations of mathematical economics : an historical and semiotic analysis." Thesis, University of St Andrews, 1997. http://hdl.handle.net/10023/15231.
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This thesis analyses whether the criticism that 20th c economic theory is too abstract, and lacking in economic meaning as a consequence of being mathematical, is justified, from a methodological perspective that is epistemological in character (cf ch2 and Cheix, 1996). Using, firstly the 'external' historical approach, that compares. Economics to the sciences (especially Mathematics chs 5, 6, 7, 8); and, secondly, the semiotic approach, that enquires into the contribution of notation to meaning, the thesis examines the historical and cognitive raison d'etre of mathematics in Economics. The thesis identifies (chs l, 2) 20th c mathematical-economics with model building and neoclassical theory. The main lines of argument are developed with reference to Jevons' Theory of Political Economy and Debreu's Theory of Value. This limitation is practical but not unnecessarily restrictive as the authors are major neo-classical writers, and mathematical economics has developed along the lines they envisaged. Further, neo-classical ideas have established themselves as paradigms of 20th c Economics, and have influenced theories in the social sciences and their mathematization. It is shown that Jevons (ch5) used the symbolism, and in particular, the linearity property of differentials to unify economic theory and the sciences on the pattern of Physics. For him however, the mathematization of economics involved also empirical and experimental inquiries using statistics. For the case of Debreu (ch6) it is shown how he used set-theoretic formalism and fixed point theorems to provide equilibrium theory with logico-mathematical content. This content is viewed as an axiomatic and deductive structure implying equilibrium. The definitions of mathematical economic models discussed in Part 3 show that economics was mathematized through influences not only from Physics, but also from Logic, and, more widely from the 20th c (socio-cultural) trend of model building in science. It is argued that this latter trend is not exclusively, or even necessarily, rooted in neo-classical economics. The semiotic analysis of chs 5 and 6 reveals how notations connect different interpretative levels ('isotopies') of mathematical theories, and how inconsistences may arise between these levels. The general conclusion of the thesis given certain methodological provisos, is that mathematization, in itself, is not a cause of, or explanation for, the emptiness of economic theories.
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Grimmer-Solem, Erik. "The science of progress : the rise of historical economics and social reform in Germany, 1864-1894." Thesis, University of Oxford, 1998. http://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:cff7d27b-b020-46d4-b2e0-b98d686c1f3b.
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This thesis reassess the so-called 'Historical School of Economics' of Gustav Schmoller and his colleagues Lujo Brentano, Adolf Held and Georg Friedrich Knapp, analysing the close relationship between the development of historical economics and the rise of social reform in Germany. It reveals that there is little evidence for a cohesive 'Historical School' and suggests that it was not primarily an outgrowth of romantic and historicist currents of thought as is commonly believed. Schmoller and his colleagues were a pragmatic, empirically-inclined group of statistically-trained economists who drew inspiration from the advances made in the natural sciences. Having directly observed the effects of rapid urbanisation, industrialisation, and the rise of labour movements and socialism in Prussia and abroad, they became dissatisfied with classical economic doctrines and laissez-faire, subjecting these to empirical tests and criticism. Drawing inspiration from British reforms and developments throughout Europe, they devised alternative hypotheses and made innovative policy recommendations. They were also important professionalisers of economics, modifying the curriculum, organising professional bodies, and creating new monographs and journals, the latter substantially aided by the interest and generosity of a leading publisher. Using empirical studies, statistics and history as analytical and critical tools, they sought practical solutions to economic and social problems by disseminating information to both the public and government officials through publications, conferences and petitions. They became leading advocates of trade union rights, factory inspection, worker protection laws, education reforms, worker insurance, agricultural reforms, and the democratisation of industrial relations. Their influence on economic and social policy, while indirect, was considerable, especially through government officials. However, the close association of historical economics with reform and social policy also made them a conspicuous target of criticism within academia and politics. Despite this, by the early 1890s the research methods and social legislation they propounded were gaining wider currency not only in Germany but also in Austria.
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Urdziņa-Deruma, Mara. "HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF HANDICRAFT EDUCATION IN GENERAL SCHOOLS IN LATVIA." 名古屋大学大学院教育発達科学研究科 技術・職業教育学研究室, 2006. http://hdl.handle.net/2237/12065.
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Kwame, Corkrum Ellen. "A historical view and proposal analysis of the strategic role of the transportation sector in the economic development of post-war Liberia." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/59125.
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Thesis (M.B.A.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, 2010.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 37).
This thesis examines the proposals for building and improving the transportation sector in Liberia, primarily the roads while providing immediate social opportunities and employment for many of the poor in Liberia. As Liberia emerges out of a protracted civil conflict and makes strives on a number of socio-economic fronts, the need to prioritize the transport sector is a critical part of the nation's rebuilding efforts. A large portion of the country lacks basic infrastructure. This has put an enormous strain on economic and social services, lead to an increase in poverty, marginal health care and lack of education. Improving the transport sector will help stimulate economic viability, expand public services and provide admission to and from urban centers. Connecting the rural areas with urban centers and markets means improved infrastructure at an affordable cost, taking into account the environmental challenges and decreasing its damaging effects. This will also help Liberia become a role model in the ever challenging global forum of nations and industries going green. Achieving this is not always an easy task, because although, Liberia has an enormous amount of good will from donor countries, road projects have remained a daunting undertaking. The stakeholders must come to terms with developing a comprehensive approach to rebuilding the country's transportation network. Studies must be conducted to understand the cost benefit of rebuilding road network throughout the country. Once these studies are completed, a diligent effort to execute a plan must be initiated. For each policy to serve its significance, the various modes of transportation in the country must be harmonized and directed under a governing body, such as the Ministry of Transportation. Within this governing body, there must be a system of checks and balances, ensuring that the interests of the citizens are at the forefront. Several recommendations have been examined: the logistics and talent makeup of the transportation team, authority within the team, tax and toll policies, unification of sectors, and contributions by private investment firms. As Liberians prepare for the next presidential election, the next five years should be used as a timeline to implement and measure success. Finally, a contingency plan outlines basic, yet productive approaches to improve roads immediately, while providing jobs for many of the unemployed.
by Ellen Kwame Corkrum.
M.B.A.
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Filip, Birsen. "Hayek’s Political Philosophy and Its Philosophical Sources." Thesis, Université d'Ottawa / University of Ottawa, 2013. http://hdl.handle.net/10393/24390.
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This thesis aims to broaden the discussion about the origins of some of the fundamental theoretical sources for Hayek’s ideas regarding freedom and the state. It focuses on the debates between the Austrian School of Economics and the German Historical School of Economics, as well as the works of Popper, Mill, Humboldt and Hegel in order to identify their positive and negative influences on Hayek’s views of freedom and the state. The originality of the thesis relates to the examination of Humboldt’s political philosophy in terms of its influence over the formation of the components of Hayek’s account of freedom, such as spontaneous order, the rule of law, the role of the state, and the nature of human knowledge. These components have assisted in Hayek’s efforts to prove the superiority of open societies over totalitarian regimes. The thesis explains that Hayek’s intellectual collaboration with Popper played a significant role in identifying many enemies of open societies. Both theorists agreed that historicism was a method commonly used and promoted by the enemies of open society; specifically, they accused Hegel of promoting historicism and, as a result, of being an enemy of open societies. However, this thesis disputes these accusations and argues that Popper and Hayek did not possess adequate knowledge of Hegel’s theoretical work to make such claims. In actuality, Hegel was not an enemy of open societies, he recognized the potential devastating outcomes associated with them and sought solutions. The thesis also explores the idea that Mill was also worried about the detrimental features of industrial capitalism and, as a result, attributed a prominent role to “state activity” in securing the conditions of positive freedom. Hayek, meanwhile, viewed such forms of state interference as obstacles to attaining freedom. This thesis examines the topic whether or not Hayek actually sought to formulate a genuine form of freedom or if he merely valued freedom as a tool for the promotion of open societies over centrally planned economies.
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Aguilar, Bobadilla Silvia E. "ECONOMIC ASPECTS OF HISTORICAL CONTAMINATION." Doctoral thesis, Vysoká škola ekonomická v Praze, 2008. http://www.nusl.cz/ntk/nusl-161826.
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The main scope of the work is to support a wider understanding of the achievements and limitations of economic analysis in historical contamination issues. The work describes how various schools of economics focus their study on environmental problems, specifically on Brownfields redevelopment. It presents the ideas of environmental economics, resource economics, free market environmentalism, institutional economics, political economy and ecological economics. The work includes a case study from the region of Ralsko in North Bohemia.
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Bruni, Luigino. "Economics, sociality and happiness : an historical perspective." Thesis, University of East Anglia, 2006. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.429613.
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Wennerlind, Carl C. "The historical specificity of scarcity : historical and political investigations /." Digital version accessible at:, 1999. http://wwwlib.umi.com/cr/utexas/main.
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Knippenberg, Ross William. "Spatial relationships in high-dimensional, international, and historical data." Thesis, University of Colorado at Boulder, 2014. http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=3621355.
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My dissertation, "Spatial Relationships in High-Dimensional, International, and Historical Data" examines the effects of distance not only in a geographical sense, but also in a higher dimensional sense where statistical distance metrics are widely used. The first two chapters of my Ph.D. thesis are closely related, and together they represent an attempt to develop a new method for computing index numbers, which are applications of statistical distance metrics. I consider distance metrics on categorical shares data, for example the proportions of a consumer's income spent on food, clothing, entertainment, and housing. Distance metrics are frequently used on such data, although all suffer from an essential flaw, which is that they treat each category as a separate, orthogonal dimension. That is, each metric assumes that every category is equally different from every other one. That assumption would be like saying Fuji apples are equally as different from Gala apples as either are to oranges, and then the distance metric is like adding apples to apples as well as apples to oranges. Because of this, the policy conclusions reached through distance measures could be greatly distorted.
The third chapter of my dissertation looks at the effect of railroads on retail prices in the United States from 1851–1892. Consistent with the theory of comparative advantage, railroads in more remote areas caused the price of agricultural goods to increase and the price of manufactured and imported goods to decline.
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Clydesdale, Greg. "Industrial leadership : a historical analysis of merchant shipping." Lincoln University, 2002. http://hdl.handle.net/10182/1712.
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This thesis set out to explore the forces that determine the rise and fall of industrial leadership. It attempted to do this by applying an industry life cycle model to the shipping industry. The industrial life cycle was posited on the basis of existing literature, particularly the growth of knowledge, evolutionary and institutional literature, which lend themselves to patterns of industrial growth and entrapment. On this basis, this thesis set out to examine whether industrial leadership can be explained by a four-staged process of imitation, catch up, advance and entrapment. However, this thesis has exposed something more complicated. Processes of imitation, catch up advance and entrapment were shown to be at work in the shipping industry, but they were tempered by the effects of military and political forces that may not be exogenous, and the trend from regionalism to globalisation. The original model did not encompass early indigenous developments that are not based on imitation that do not immediately lead to a position of advanced leadership. In this light, a better description of the first stage would be capability building.
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Kisker, Carrie Bourdon. "Integrating high school and community college a historical policy analysis /." Diss., Restricted to subscribing institutions, 2006. http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=1264609461&sid=1&Fmt=2&clientId=1564&RQT=309&VName=PQD.
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Walters, Christopher R. "School choice, school quality, and human capital : three essays." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2013. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/81048.
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Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Economics, 2013.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 173-180).
This dissertation consists of three essays covering topics in the economics of education. Two common threads connect these essays: first, a focus on the inputs and practices driving variation in effectiveness across educational programs; and second, an interest in the relationships between students' preferences, characteristics, and returns to human capital investment. In the first chapter, I develop and estimate a structural model of school choice that links students' decisions to apply to and attend charter schools in Boston, Massachusetts to their potential achievement test scores in charter schools and public schools. This chapter is motivated by a growing literature that uses randomized entrance lotteries to show that urban charter schools, including those in Boston, substantially increase test scores and close racial achievement gaps among their applicants. A key policy question is whether charter expansion is likely to produce similar effects on a larger scale. To address this question, I use the structural model to predict the effects of charter expansion for the citywide achievement distribution in Boston. Estimates of the model suggest that charter applicants are negatively selected on achievement gains: low-income students and students with low prior achievement gain the most from charter attendance, but are unlikely to apply to charter schools. This form of selection implies that lottery-based estimates understate gains for broader groups of students, and that charter schools will produce substantial gains for marginal applicants drawn in by expansion. Simulations suggest that realistic expansions are likely to reduce the gap in math scores between Boston and the rest of Massachusetts by up to 8 percent, and reduce racial achievement gaps by roughly 5 percent. Nevertheless, the estimates also imply that perceived application costs are high and that most students prefer traditional public schools to charter schools, so large expansions may leave many charter seats empty. These results suggest that in the absence of significant behavioral or institutional changes, the potential gains from charter expansion may be limited as much by demand as by supply. The second chapter, written jointly with Joshua Angrist and Parag Pathak, seeks to explain differences in effectiveness across charter schools. Using a large sample of lotteried applicants to charter schools throughout Massachusetts, we show that urban charter schools boost student achievement, while charter schools in other settings do not. We then explore student-level and school-level explanations for this difference. In an econometric framework that isolates sources of charter effect heterogeneity, we show that urban charter schools boost achievement well beyond that of urban public school students, while non-urban charters reduce achievement from a higher baseline. Student demographics explain some of these gains since urban charters are most effective for non-whites and low-baseline achievers. At the same time, non-urban charter schools are uniformly ineffective. Our estimates also reveal important school-level heterogeneity within the urban charter sample. A non-lottery analysis suggests that urban charters with binding, well-documented admissions lotteries generate larger score gains than under-subscribed urban charter schools with poor lottery records. Using a detailed survey of school practices and characteristics, we link charter impacts to inputs such as instructional time, classroom techniques and school philosophy. The relative effectiveness of urban lottery-sample charters is accounted for by these schools' embrace of the No Excuses approach to urban education, a package of policies that includes strict discipline, increased instructional time, selective teacher-hiring, and a focus on traditional skills. In the third chapter, I use data from the Head Start Impact Study (HSIS), a nationwide randomized trial of the Head Start program, to study the relationship between site-level treatment effects and educational inputs within Head Start. Studies of small-scale, intensive early-childhood programs, including the High/Scope Perry Preschool Project, show that such programs can have transformative effects on human capital and economic outcomes. Evidence for larger-scale programs like Head Start is more mixed. I use the HSIS data to ask whether Head Start centers using practices more similar to successful model programs produce larger short-run effects on cognitive and non-cognitive skills. My results show that while there is significant variation in effectiveness across Head Start centers, centers that are more similar to the Perry Preschool Project on observed dimensions are not more effective. Specifically, Head Start centers using the High/Scope curriculum, the centerpiece of the Perry experiment, do not produce larger gains relative to other centers. Other inputs often cited as essential to the success of the Perry Project, including teacher education, teacher certification, teacher/student ratios, instructional time, and frequency of home visiting, are also unrelated to effectiveness in Head Start. These results suggest that replicating the success of small-scale programs may be difficult, as the effectiveness of such programs may be due to idiosyncratic, unmeasured inputs. JEL Classification: 121, C51, J24
by Christopher Ross Walters.
Ph.D.
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Colby, Sherri Rae. "Students As Historians: The Historical Narrative Inquiry Model's Impact on Historical Thinking and Historical Empathy." Thesis, University of North Texas, 2007. https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc5192/.
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The dissertation explores middle-school students' abilities to engage in historical thinking. I dispute the Hallam-Piaget model, which discourages analytical thinking through the assumption that children lack skills to think critically about history. My historical narrative inquiry model (1) teaches procedural knowledge (the process of "doing" history); (2) enhances interpretative skills; (3) cultivates historical perspectives based upon evidentiary history; and (4) encourages student authorship of historical narratives. In the fall semester of 2006, with a classroom of twenty-five seventh-graders, I initiated a research study designed to explore the impact of the historical narrative inquiry model through a sequence of thirty-two lessons. The lessons involved small- and large-group activities, including oral presentations, discussions about primary documents, and consideration of the relation between narratology and the creation of written history. Students generated their own historical narratives in order to articulate their perspectives. Eight students having varied reading-level proficiency served as primary participants in the study. Each of these students received pre- and post-intervention interviews. Outcomes reflected the enhancement of pedagogy intended to facilitate historical thinking and historical empathy in the classroom.
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Romer, Christina. "The instability of the prewar economy reconsidered : a critical examination of historical macroeconomic data." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1985. https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/130997.
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Thesis: Ph. D., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Economics, 1985Vita.
Includes bibliographies.
by Christina Duckworth Romer.
Ph. D.
Ph.D. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Economics
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Chan, Ching Chinglyna. "School based management in Hong Kong a historical research." Click to view the E-thesis via HKUTO, 2004. http://sunzi.lib.hku.hk/hkuto/record/B35305071.
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Chan, Ching Chinglyna, and 陳清. "School based management in Hong Kong a historical research." Thesis, The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong), 2004. http://hub.hku.hk/bib/B35305071.
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O'Connor, Bryan Charles. "Cost-Benefit Analysis Of Universal Influenza Vaccination Programs: A Historical-Perspective Case Study Of Vermont." ScholarWorks @ UVM, 2018. https://scholarworks.uvm.edu/graddis/973.
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Since 2010 the Center for Disease Control (CDC) and its Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) have recommended annual influenza vaccinations for all persons aged six months and up (ACIP, 2017). In December of the same year, the Agency of Health and Human Services (AHHS) unveiled Healthy People 2020, a series of health indicators and corresponding 10-year objectives. This newest iteration of the Healthy People program set target influenza vaccination levels for healthy adults 18 and older at 80% (AHHS, 2010).
Aside from the inherent health benefits, multiple studies conducted over the past decade suggest there may be significant economic benefits to a highly-vaccinated population. Depending on the effectiveness of seasonal vaccines, the cost of vaccinating a U.S. adult can be outweighed by the health care savings from the resulting reduction in direct and indirect infection treatment costs.
As the state of Vermont considers including influenza vaccinations in its state-mandated Vermont Vaccine Purchasing Program (VVPP), it presents a unique opportunity to conduct a state-wide case study on the potential cost-saving implications of a universally available influenza vaccination.
This study takes a historical perspective and looks back at Vermont’s influenza cost, usage, and treatment information since the vaccine was recommended in 2010. Using data generated from Vermont’s immunization registry, de-identified claims data, CDC-reported statistics, and numerous published economic studies, this research answers the question: “What societal costs/savings would have been witnessed if the influenza vaccine was included in the VVPP since 2010?” and, more important, what policy changes can be made now to realize savings in the future?
Using a dynamic transmission model embedded in cost-benefit analysis, this research concludes that influenza-related savings of 6.2% would have been experienced over the five flu seasons between fall 2010 and summer 2015. Most of the savings are generated by the increased vaccination rate associated with a universal vaccination program. Creation of such a program in the state of Vermont would likely be economically beneficial.
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Eames, Brittany A. "Uncommon historical object appraisals| appraising the south street museum collection." Thesis, Sotheby's Institute of Art - New York, 2014. http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=1554301.
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As the global pattern of severe weather intensifies, complex disaster-related appraisals are becoming increasingly more common. Post-disaster appraisals are particularly challenging due to several key factors: (1) the large number of objects in each appraisal, (2) the diversity of the objects and (3) the limited time frame for completion. Due to these complicating factors the methodologies that were once central to the structure of valuation are crumbling and new metrics are being formed to accommodate these labyrinthine post-disaster jobs. By way of a single case study undertaken post-Hurricane Sandy, this document explores the process of redesigning appraisal methodologies, of approaching uncommon historical objects found often in these now less exceptional cases, of identifying "value signifiers" for those objects and ultimately of reimagining the very core of what it means to appraise fine art.
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Green, Roy. "Classical theories of money, output and inflation : a study in 'historical economics'." Thesis, University of Cambridge, 1988. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.317732.
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Pogor, Iulian. "Historical perspective of innovation in electronic payment instruments." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2011. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/65816.
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Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, 2011.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 62-65).
Electronic Payment Instruments have seen unprecedented innovation in the past XX-th century. Most of this innovation was made possible by advances in information and communication technology. Advances in ICT paired with financial innovation have brought to life the nowadays so common credit/debit cards, expeditious processing of electronic funds transfers, online and mobile payments. Past innovation in electronic payment instruments built primarily on top of a pre-existent base. Also, it developed along the opportunities opened up by technological innovation. Revolutionary business models like Global Transaction Services would have been very difficult if not impossible to implement without the progress in IT, IT infrastructure and integration. In addition, future innovation will continue to be bounded by regulatory and legislative frameworks in the financial and banking industries. Evolutionary trends in innovation in electronic payment instruments can be affected also by any shifts in the monetary systems predominant at a certain point in time. Future innovation trends will be shaped by the current advances in online and mobile electronic payment instruments in the United States and in other OECD countries. Large markets like China and India are important technological stakeholders as well, picking up and implementing quickly the new technology to address their development needs.
by Iulian Pogor.
S.M.
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Han, Jiwon S. M. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. "Historical review of Samsung's innovations and further steps." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2011. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/65802.
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Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, 2011.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 82).
Samsung Group has been growing rapidly for the last ten years, based on Korean exclusive historical and economic backgrounds. Especially, Samsung Electronics, the biggest subsidiaries in the Samsung Group has grown very fast in that period with the technological background - the features of the digital era and disruptive technology and the other background - Korean domestic situation also makes Samsung Group grow so fast. In the most adverse economic environment the Korean government supported Samsung Group entirely and their "Frankfurt Announcement" in 1993 was meant to get over Asian Financial Crisis in 1997. Their distinctive factors to be successful are their structures, the triangle structure and the vertically integrated structure among the subsidiaries. The triangle structure stands for the ownership, future strategy office, and the professional CEOs of subsidiaries and it provides the fast decision making process and the vertically integrated structure helps Samsung Group finding the new opportunity. I review their history and the backgrounds which influenced on them and diagnose their internal successful factors with the specific cases, and try to find out their factors by comparing them with LG Electronics, the domestic competitor which went through the same historical and economic situation and with Sony which used to the insurmountable top company to Samsung Electronics and currently becomes the big competitor.
by Jiwon Han.
S.M.
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Hachiya, Masanori. "Historical review of Sony's innovations and future steps." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/59120.
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Thesis (M.B.A.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, 2010.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 73-74).
This thesis reviews Sony's successes and failures in product innovations from the 1950s into the 2000s. It analyzes key success factors in Sony's significant sales and profit growth in each decade. Sony's first business success-the transistor radio and TV business in the 1950s and 1960s-was based on a process that combined new technologies to improve affordability and create new markets. During the video product development of the 1970s, Sony created three core competences: a knowledge-sharing culture, a knowledge management system for tuning technology, and a "waterfall" strategy, which increased market value and maximized opportunities for Sony and its partners. As a result, Sony became competitive in new businesses and technology idea generation, resource utilization, and cost reduction and premium pricing. This contributed to rapid revenue and profit growth during the 1970s and the 1980s. The turning point was the 1990s when Sony's knowledge-sharing culture disintegrated, and the R&D organization structure became a divisional self-supporting system. As a result, Sony lost its key advantages and subsequently delayed development of its core hardware and PC software-the keys to maintaining competitive advantage in the digital consumer electronics industry. Thus, from the mid-1990s, Sony began to lose market share even in areas where it had held a dominant position since the 1980s. By analyzing these successes and failures, I determined six key factors of success: (1) value capturing (cost) advantage, (2) strong leadership, (3) strong technology advantage, (4) efficient use of HR, internal/external know-how, (5) a rich flow of business/ technology ideas, and (6) incentives for suppliers. These factors meant the difference between success and failure, and they are now what Sony should focus on in order to succeed in the future. Finally, I propose two solutions that will enable Sony to fulfill the six success factors and regain its knowledge-sharing culture. These solutions are: (1) unification of the microprocessor platform, and (2) development of an open application aggregation platform. Both are practical and strong solutions, which Sony should aggressively adopt in order to revive its corporate culture and R&D structure of the Golden Decades.
by Masanori Hachiya.
M.B.A.
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Vertova, Giovanna. "Historical evolution of national systems of innovation and national technological specialisation." Thesis, University of Reading, 1998. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.263064.
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Archer, H. J. "An eclectic approach to the historical study of UK multinational enterprises." Thesis, University of Reading, 1986. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.373708.
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Cox, George Stanley. "Standards for school leaders considering historical, political, and national organizational influences /." Auburn, Ala., 2007. http://repo.lib.auburn.edu/07M%20Dissertations/COX_G_58.pdf.
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Zuhdi, Muhammad. "Political and social influences on religious school : a historical perspective on Indonesian Islamic school curricula." Thesis, McGill University, 2006. http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=102775.
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As the most populous Muslim country in the world, Indonesia has a unique experience in dealing with Islamic education, a system that was established years before the country's independence. This dissertation focuses on the development of Indonesian Islamic schools in facing the challenges of modernization and globalization, with special reference to their changing curricula. Using the social constructionist perspective as an approach, this study examines the significance of political and social changes to the development of Islamic schools' curricula throughout the country's history. This study finds evidences of a reciprocal relationship between the changing curricula of Indonesian Islamic schools and the changing social and political circumstances.
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Schmidt, Stefanie R. (Stefanie Rae). "School quality, compulsory education laws and the growth of American high school attendance, 1915-1935." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1996. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/10709.
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Chuang, Hwei-Lin. "An estimable dynamic model of schooling : an application to high school dropouts' return to school /." The Ohio State University, 1990. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1280254034.
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Yung, Chan May Yee Millie. "Status, significance and survival of home economics in Hong Kong : an historical investigation." Thesis, University of East Anglia, 2005. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.423707.
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Hess, Albert. "The Association Young Africa and its context with special reference to Trafalgar High School." Master's thesis, University of Cape Town, 2006. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/8168.
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Includes bibliographical references (leaves 116-123).This thesis examines the social orientations of the members of the Association Young Africa (AYA), and the circumstances that surrounded the founding of the organization at Trafalgar High School. It endeavours to place these elements in their personal lives as students, their arrests and imprisonment on Robben Island, and the very limited developments that followed on the mainland after their release. The research is important because its central focus, the history of the AYA, is unrecorded. Its significance stems from the fact that the AYA was the first militant student group from the Cape to plan action of a violent nature against state oppression.
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Grote, Janice A. Baker Paul J. "A case study of a MicroSociety school." Normal, Ill. Illinois State University, 2002. http://wwwlib.umi.com/cr/ilstu/fullcit?p3064513.
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Thesis (Ed. D.)--Illinois State University, 2002.Title from title page screen, viewed February 28, 2006. Dissertation Committee: Paul J. Baker (chair), Amelia D. Adkins, Wayne A. Benenson, Ramona Lomeli. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 160-162) and abstract. Also available in print.
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Strayer, Wayne E. "The returns to high school quality : college choice and earnings /." Connect to resource, 1997. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view.cgi?acc%5Fnum=osu1261310960.
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Hallberg, Martin. "Can we predict future volatility on the OMXS 30? : A quantative study on historical and implied volatility." Thesis, Umeå universitet, Nationalekonomi, 2020. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-173071.
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When making investment decisions risk is a highly important aspect to account for. Many studies have investigated how to measure risk and forecast it for an investment decision. This study takes a closer look at what forecast method is best on the Swedish index OMX Stockholm 30. During the period from January 2016 to December 2018. The models examined are GARCH, EGARCH and Black-Scholes (implied volatility). The result indicates that EGARCH is best at forecasting proxies for the index volatility. All models follow the realized volatility proxies fairly well, but implied volatility constantly overestimates the volatility. This is consistent with previous research.
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Yildizoglu, Ergin. "A theoretical and historical study of crisis in the capitalist mode of production." Thesis, University of East Anglia, 1989. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.253653.
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Metcalfe, Stuart. "International business networks in historical perspective : the case of the Borneo Company Limited." Thesis, London South Bank University, 1998. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.264864.
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Irwin, Allan R. "Researching the use of historical case studies in secondary school science." Thesis, University of Surrey, 2000. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.326818.
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Botts, Kenneth Christopher. "A selected historical analysis of the “Complete High School” Maize Kansas." Diss., Kansas State University, 2015. http://hdl.handle.net/2097/18952.
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Doctor of EducationDepartment of Educational Leadership
Mary Devin
David C. Thompson
School districts throughout the United States have continuous concerns about how to meet the needs of high school students who are at-risk of dropping out of school. Despite multiple resources available for addressing this concern through alternative education schools and programs, there continues to be an unacceptably high number of students who do not graduate from high school. While knowledge about what is working in alternative schools and the students they serve is progressing, additional research is still needed. In Maize USD 266, Complete High School Maize is an award-winning and nationally recognized dropout prevention program that has, over a fifteen year span (1999-2014), helped reduce the dropout rate in Maize. The intent of this qualitative historical analysis was to serve two purposes. First, it delineated the historical evolution of Complete High School Maize as a model for school districts to emulate in an effort to reduce the number of high school dropouts. Secondly, this study provided historical documentation to help preserve and share in the history of the program for future generations of students. This study examined the factors and circumstances present in Maize USD 266 that resulted in the creation of an alternative school for its students. This study also narrated the structural evolution of Complete High School Maize from 1999 to 2014 and examined the conditions and factors that resulted in the progressions. The findings of the study showed that Complete High School Maize had successfully helped reduce the number of dropouts in Maize USD 266.
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Masoodi, Jennifer J. "School reform in residential schools for the blind : a historical investigation /." Thesis, Connect to this title online; UW restricted, 2004. http://hdl.handle.net/1773/7661.
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Augustine, Scott B. "An historical analysis of school vouchers in the United States and implications for public school reform /." Click here to download free PDF copy through Current Research database, 2005. http://0-wwwlib.umi.com.library.dowling.edu/cr/dowling/fullcit?p3205823.
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Brewster, Thomas M. "An Historical Coal Mining Community and Its School: A Study of Pocahontas High School, 1908-1991." Diss., Virginia Tech, 2000. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/29752.
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Pocahontas High School, the smallest of four Tazewell County high schools, is presently located in the historic town of Pocahontas, Virginia. From the school's establishment in 1908 until 1955, the high school was located at the top of Water Street within the town limits. In 1955, students were moved to a new building at its present site just inside the town's corporate limits. The school today serves the communities of Abbs Valley, Boissevain, and the Town of Pocahontas, Virginia.
This study included an examination of the role of the school in the mining community, and the relationship between the coal company and the school. Thus, the researcher reviewed literature-surrounding life in mining industrial towns to determine whether Pocahontas conformed to the conventional interpretations of such mining-industrial communities. The researcher also considered the life of the school and community following the cessation of mining operations in Pocahontas. An examination of the reasons for the school having remained open despite declining enrollment and the importance of the school to its communities was examined through the eyes of local community leaders, residents, and graduates of Pocahontas High School.
This study employed conventional historical research methods in order to document the history of Pocahontas High School. The data collected from documents and interviews were handled qualitatively, with some data appearing in the form of numbers and graphs. Data gathered for this study were derived from both primary and secondary sources. This study used written, pictorial, and oral sources. Oral materials included oral history interviews with local historians, public officials and individuals involved with Pocahontas High School during the period of study. Triangulation verification techniques were used to accurately describe the impact of coal mining and the closing of the mine on the development, growth, and decline of the school and community.Ed. D.
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Alt, Lutz. "The photochemical industry : historical essays in business strategy and internationalization." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1986. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/61803.
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Sun, Yang Ph D. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. "Essays in financial economics." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2015. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/108220.
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Thesis: Ph. D., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, 2015.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 157-163).
This thesis consists of three essays in corporate finance and capital markets. The first chapter estimates the effect of competition from low-cost index funds on fees in the money management industry. A difference-in-differences analysis exploiting the staggered entry of index funds finds that while actively managed funds sold directly to retail investors reduce fees by six percent, those sold through brokers increase fees by four percent. Additionally, actively managed funds, especially closet indexers, shift away from holding the index portfolio. The paper proposes a price-discrimination model to illustrate that the effect of low-cost passive fund competition depends on market segmentation. Beyond the price competition effect, the entry creates a selection effect that isolates the least-price-sensitive investors in the broker channel and results in a price increase for this group. Repeating the study using the entry of exchange-traded funds reveals similar but stronger finding. Overall, the results shed light on why aggregate mutual fund fees decline slowly despite increased competition from lower-cost passive alternatives. The second chapter, joint with Jean-Noel Barrot, examines the effects of imperfect investor risk adjustment on the behavior of mutual fund managers. We exploit a natural experiment when a major fund rating company changed its rating methodology. While in the old system, all equity funds were compared with one another in one pool, in the new algorithm, funds become compared within narrow peer groups. This algorithm revision increases the ability of retail investor to compare funds based on risk-adjusted returns, and it has an important impact on the fund mangers' compensation. The sensitivity of retail fund flows to systematic returns is eliminated. Using institutional funds as a control for retail funds in a difference-in-differences analysis, we find that this revision reduces fund managers risk taking behavior, in particular for funds in the categories that had biased low ratings ex-ante. The third chapter, joint with Carola Frydman and Eric Hilt, documents the dividend policy of firms in the United States during the first three decades of the twentieth century. This period features severe information asymmetry between insiders and outsiders, while other factors that could affect the payout policy were relatively muted. In the years surrounding World War I, industrial firms increased their payout ratios and dividends became less sticky. The new industrial firms listed on the NYSE in the 1920s had the best fit with the Lintner (1956) model and these firms refrained from committing to sticky dividend policy. Consistent with the asymmetric information theory, the market reacted positively to dividend increase announcements, especially to those made by the new industrials, and reacted negatively to dividend cuts.
by Yang Sun.
The effect of index fund competition on money management fees -- The effect of investor risk adjustment on fund manager incentives -- Dividend policy in the early twentieth century United States.
Ph. D.
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Chen, Chyi-Mei. "Essays on financial economics." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1992. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/13148.
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Mitton, Todd V. (Todd Victor) 1966. "Essays in financial economics." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2000. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/8807.
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Thesis (Ph.D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, 2000.Includes bibliographical references.
The thesis consists of three essays dealing with corporate governance in an international context. The first essay is entitled "A Cross-Firm Analysis of the Impact of Corporate Governance on the East Asian Financial Crisis." In a sample of 399 firms from Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Thailand, cross-firm differences in variables related to corporate governance had a significant impact on firm performance during the East Asian financial crisis of 1997- 1998. Higher outside ownership concentration led to significantly better stock price performance during the crisis, but higher managerial ownership concentration had no significant effect on performance. This may indicate that the presence of an outside lock holder can mitigate expropriation of minority shareholders, but that managers with significant holdings can resist this effect. Diversified firms performed significantly worse than focused firms during the crisis. On average, single-segment firms emerged from the crisis trading at a premium of over 20% relative to diversified firms with which they were equally valued prior to the crisis. The relative loss in value for diversified firms was due primarily to the performance of firms with high variation in investment opportunities across divisions, suggesting that cross-subsidization of divisions may have been a source of the value loss. Variables indicative of higher disclosure quality are associated with significantly better performance during the crisis. Having an ADR and having an auditor from a "Big Six" accounting firm had separate positive effects on firm performance. Firms with both indicators came out of the crisis valued at a premium of over 50%, on average, relative to firms without these indicators with which they were equally valued prior to the crisis. Taken as a whole, the results provide some evidence at the micro level that poor corporate governance contributed to the depth of the East Asian financial crisis. The second essay is entitled "The Performance of Politically Favored Firms in the East Asian Financial Crisis: Evidence from Malaysia." Malaysia presents an interesting opportunity to study the impact of political favoritism on firm performance during the East Asian crisis. Favoritism runs along two dimensions in Malaysia. Firms are favored based on the ethnicity of their owners as well as through personal relationships with key government officials. I find that the stock price performance of firms favored based on ethnicity was significantly better than the performance of non-favored firms during the crisis. However, the performance of firms favored through personal connections was significantly worse than the performance of non-connected firms. The evidence does not suggest that the relative loss for connected firms was driven by excessive leverage or inherent operating inefficiencies. Rather, the evidence suggests that the performance difference was driven by changes in the expected value of benefits for politically favored firms. The third essay is entitled "Do Agency Problems Affect Dividend Policy? Firm-Level Evidence from Around the World." The "outcome" agency model of dividends (La Porta, Lopez-de-Si lanes, Shleifer, and Vishny (LLSV (2000)) yields two key empirical predictions. First, dividend payouts will be higher among firms in which agency problems are less severe. Second, a negative relationship between growth opportunities and dividend payouts will be stronger among firms in which agency problems are less severe. LLSV (2000) use country-level measures of legal protection as a proxy for lower agency costs, and find empirical support for both predictions. I build on these findings by using firm-level measures indicative of the severity of agency problems. The proxies I employ are based on the cross-listing of firms in the U.S., the quality of accounting disclosure, diversification across industries, and the presence of a large outside shareholder. In a sample of 3,385 firms across 32 countries, I also find empirical support for both predictions of the outcome model.
by Todd V. Mitton.
Ph.D.
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Ru, Hong Ph D. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. "Essays in financial economics." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2015. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/98607.
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Thesis: Ph. D., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, 2015.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references.
This thesis considers three empirical essays on financial economics. The first chapter examines the effect of government credit on firm investment, employment, debt, profitability, and survival by using unique data from the China Development Bank (CDB). I explore the different effects of various types of government credit (credit to infrastructure vs. credit to state-owned enterprises (SOEs)). I also trace the effect of government credit across different levels of the supply chain. I find that CDB SOE industry loans crowd out private firms in the same industry but crowd in private firms in downstream industries. I also find private firms benefit from CDB infrastructure loans. I use the exogenous timing of municipal political leaders' turnover as an instrument for CDB loans to cities. The second chapter, joint with Antoinette Schoar, analyzes pricing and advertising strategies of credit card offers. We show that credit cards which have reward programs have lower regular APR but rely more heavily on backward loaded and more hidden payment features. Issuers target different reward programs at different types of the population: Programs such as miles, cash back and points are offered to richer and more educated customers, while low intro APR offers are offered to poorer and less educated customers. Our results also suggest that card features that are mainly demanded by sophisticated consumers cannot be shrouded and need to be priced upfront. Finally, using shocks to the credit worthiness of customers, we show that card issuers rely more heavily on backward loaded credit terms when customers are more protected. The third chapter studies the effects of privatization on both SOEs and privately-owned firms in China. Using political turnover as an instrument variable for privatization, I find that after privatization, the productivity of SOEs and private firms increases by 50% and 100%, respectively. Moreover, every 100 workers got fired by SOEs come with a 169 increase from private firms' hiring in the same industry and same province. I also find that politicians' fixed effect on SOEs is significant. Moreover, corrupt politicians make SOEs less efficient but more powerful in the market.
by Hong Ru.
Ph. D.
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Edmans, Alex. "Essays in financial economics." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2007. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/40855.
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Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, 2007.This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections.
Includes bibliographical references.
This thesis consists of three essays in financial economics. Chapter 1 is entitled "Inside Debt." Existing theories advocate the use of cash and equity in executive compensation. However, recent empirical studies have documented the prevalence of debt-like instruments such as pensions. This chapter rationalizes the use of such inside debt as an effcient solution to the agency costs of debt. Owing to its greater sensitivity to liquidation payoffs, inside debt is more effective at optimizing project selection than the bonuses, private benefits and reputational concerns advocated by prior literature. Contrary to intuition, it is typically inefficient to align the manager with firm value by granting him equal proportions of debt and equity. Chapter 2 is entitled "Sports Sentiment and Stock Returns" and co-authored with Diego Garcia and Oyvind Norli. We investigate the stock market reaction to sudden changes in investor mood. Motivated by psychological evidence of a strong link between soccer outcomes and mood, we use international soccer results as our primary mood variable. We find a significant market decline after soccer losses. For example, a loss in the world Cup elimination stage leads to a next-day abnormal stock return of -49 basis points. This loss effect is stronger in small stocks and in more important games, and is robust to methodological changes. We also document a loss effect after international cricket, rugby, and basketball games.
(cont.) Chapter 3 is entitled "Leverage, Ownership Concentration, and the Tension Between Liquidation and Investment." Allowing early liquidation minimizes investor losses if the manager is unskilled. However, the possibility of liquidation deters a skilled manager from undertaking long-term projects that risk interim turbulence. This chapter introduces a novel role of debt that overcomes this tension. Leverage concentrates equity holders' stakes, creating incentives for them to find out whether short-term losses result from low ability or a temporary down-turn in a profitable project. If the firm is fundamentally sound, it is not liquidated upon poor performance. Debt therefore allows termination without inducing myopia. Unlike models of managerial discipline based on total payout, here dividends are not a substitute for debt as they achieve liquidation without incentivizing monitoring.
by Alexander James Edmans.
Ph.D.
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Green, Daniel (Daniel Weiss). "Essays in financial economics." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2018. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/118000.
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Thesis: Ph. D., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, 2018.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references.
The essays in this thesis study issues in finance affecting large corporations, developing economies, and households. The common theme that connects these essays is a focus on how financial institutions, frictions, and policies affect the allocation of resources in the economy. The first chapter explores a classic question in corporate finance: how valuable are restrictive debt covenants in reducing the agency costs of debt? I answer this question by exploiting the revealed preference decision to refinance fixed-coupon debt, which weighs observable interest rate savings against the unobservable costs of a change in restrictive debt covenants induced by refinancing. Plausibly exogenous variation in this trade-off reveals that firms require higher interest rate savings to refinance when it would add restrictive covenants and require much lower interest rate savings when refinancing sheds covenants. A high-yield bond's restrictive covenant package increases the value of speculative-grade firms by 2.4 percent on average. Joint work with Ernest Liu in Chapter 2 provides a theory that explains how institutional weakness in credit markets can fail to stimulate development even when there is ample credit supply. We show that when borrowers lack credible mechanisms to commit not to borrow further from other lenders in the future, not only does the increasing availability of lenders raise the interest rate on loans and reduce the amount of funds that entrepreneurs can borrow, but perversely it is those entrepreneurs with more profitable investment opportunities that will end up raising fewer investments precisely because they have stronger desires to seek out additional lenders in the future. This effect further discourages entrepreneurs from initiating the most efficient and productive endeavors, generating persistent underdevelopment. Chapter 3 explores the role of liquidity constraints in households' responses to fiscal stimulus programs. In joint work with Jonathan Parker, Brian Melzer, and Arcenis Rojas, this chapter evaluates the impact of the Car Allowance Rebate System (CARS) on vehicle purchases. We find that the liquidity provided by CARS amplified household responses to the economic subsidy. Liquidity provision was lower for the owners of clunkers encumbered by loans, since participation required loan repayment. Such households had a very low participation rate, which we attribute to liquidity constraints and distinguish from the effects of other indebtedness, household income, and the size of the program subsidy.
by Daniel Green.
1. Corporate Refinancing, Covenants, and the Agency Cost of Debt -- 2. Growing Pains in Financial Development: Institutional Weakness and Investment Efficiency -- 3. Accelerator or Brake? Cash for Clunkers, Household Liquidity, and Aggregate Demand.
Ph. D.
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Mitra, Indrajit. "Essays in financial economics." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2015. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/98610.
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Thesis: Ph. D., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, 2015.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references.
This dissertation consist of three essays. In the first essay, I examine optimal dynamic contracting between risk-averse investors and firm insiders in a dynamic general-equilibrium model with heterogeneous firms. The equilibrium optimal contract features a higher rate of inefficient liquidations in aggregate states with low productivity and a reward-for-luck policy in high productivity states. I show that with realistic parameters, moral hazard has a first order quantitative effect on equilibrium dynamics of macro-economic quantities and asset prices. The conditional dynamics depend on the time-varying cross-sectional distribution of financial slack of firms in the economy. Moral hazard improves upon the predictions of the friction-less economy in three ways. First, the sensitivity of risk premia and key macro-economic quantities rises after successive negative aggregate shocks. Accumulation of small shocks results in a disproportionately large decline in aggregate quantities, and a rise in risk-premia. Second, inefficiencies resulting from second-best contractual arrangements amplify the effect of primitive shocks and make the economy more sensitive to negative than to positive shocks. Third, controlling for current aggregate productivity, firm exit rates contain incremental information about future output growth. In the second essay I quantitatively analyze the cross-sectional implications of optimal dynamic contracting between risk-averse investors and firm insiders in a dynamic general equilibrium model. I make two changes compared to essay one. First, I allow for firm-level investment. Second, I model firms to use a decreasing returns to scale technology instead of a linear one. My model makes two predictions on steady-state capital accumulation which are consistent with empirical evidence. First, I show that conditional on survival, younger firms are smaller and have higher expected growth rates. Second, investment rates in small firms are more volatile and more sensitive to realized cash flows than large firms. In the presence of aggregate shocks, my model predicts that the conditional aggregate dynamics of key macro-economic quantities depends on the cross-sectional distribution of firm-level investment rates. Controlling for aggregate productivity, states of the economy in which a higher fraction of firms have lower investment rates are characterized by low aggregate output, investment, and consumption, and higher risk-premium. I provide quantitative estimates in a calibrated model. In the third essay, we propose a simulation-based procedure for evaluating approximation accuracy of numerical solutions of general equilibrium models with heterogeneous agents. We measure the approximation accuracy by the magnitude of the loss suffered by the agents as a result of following sub-optimal policies. Our procedure allows agents to have knowledge of the future paths of the economy under suitably imposed costs of such foresight. This method is very general, straightforward to implement, and can be used in conjunction with various solution algorithms. We illustrate our method in the context of the incomplete-markets model of Krusell and Smith, where we apply it to two widely used approximation techniques: crosssectional moment truncation and history truncation.
by Indrajit Mitra.
Ph. D.
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Edsparr, Patrik Lennart. "Essays in financial economics." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1994. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/11614.
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