The focus of this paper is to analyze the effect that ambiguity will have on the buyer's reservation price and the value of the option to purchase the durable good with an embedded option to resell it. The agent is assumed to be risk neutral and ambiguity averse. The problem is formulated as an...

We consider decision making problems under uncertainty, assuming that only partial distributional information is available - as is often the case in practice. In such problems, the goal is to determine here-and-now decisions, which optimally balance deterministic immediate costs and worst-case...

In this paper we propose a methodology for constructing decision rules for integer and continuous decision variables in multiperiod robust linear optimization problems. This type of problems finds application in, for example, inventory management, lot sizing, and manpower management. We show...

Adjustable Robust Optimization (ARO) yields, in general, better worst-case solutions than static Robust Optimization (RO). However, ARO is computationally more difficult than RO. In this paper, we derive conditions under which the worst-case objective values of ARO and RO problems are equal. We...

The unemployed in the United States appear to allocate time to job search activities regardless of the stance of the economy. Drawing on the American Time Use Survey between 2003 and 2014, I document that the unemployed increase their search intensity only slightly if at all during recessions....

Using harmonised micro data, this paper investigates the job search behaviour of the unemployed in Europe. The analysis focuses on the importance of individual and household characteristics in this context, as well as on cross-country differences in Europe. Our findings suggest that both...

We use a novel data set on firm vacancies and job seekers from a Mexican government job placement service to analyze whether changes in matching frictions can explain the large and persistent increase in Mexican unemployment after the 2008 global financial crisis. We find evidence of a...

Using administrative data from the Spanish Social Security Administration, we analyse the nature and stability of job matches starting during the economic boom in 2005 and during the recession in 2009. We compare the individual, job and firm characteristics in the two samples and estimate a...

The Great Recession is characterized by a GDP-decline that was unprecedented in the past decades. This paper discusses the implications of the Great Recession analyzing labor market data from 20 OECD countries. Comparing the Great Recession with the 1980s recession it is concluded that there is...

Using administrative records data from Spanish Social Security, we analyse the pattern and the determinants of individual unemployment benefit spell durations. We compare a period of expansion (2005-2007) and the recent recession (2009-2011), allowing us to determine the impact of the current...