The purpose of this dissertation is to describe and test competing hypotheses regarding Korean industrialization. Has Korea followed the neoclassical path of static comparative advantage or did Korea anticipate comparative advantage? We will attempt to answer this question through three essays.

Using data from the Current Population Survey for 1997 and 2001, we estimate the probability that a consumer engages in online shopping. We use variation in sales–tax rates by county to identify the effects of the sales–tax rate in the home county and adjacent counties. We also control for...

In this paper robustness properties are studied for kernel density estimators. A plug-in and least squares cross-validation bandwidth selector are considered. In an asymptotic analysis and in a simulation study it is shown that the robustness of kernel density estimates depends strongly on the...

We estimate a New-Keynesian macro model accommodating regime-switching behavior in monetary policy and in macro shocks. Key to our estimation strategy is the use of survey-based expectations for inflation and output. Output and inflation shocks shift to the low volatility regime around 1985 and...

This paper examines equilibrium properties of local jurisdictions implied by the Tiebout-style model. A set of equilibrium conditions are derived from a general equilibrium model of local jurisdictions. The conditions are parameterized and empirically estimated in a two-stage procedure. The...