We study several aspects of the dynamic programming approach to optimal control of abstract evolution equations, including a class of semilinear partial differential equations. We introduce and prove a verification theorem which provides a sufficient condition for optimality. Moreover we prove...

We develop a model of household demand for frequently purchased consumer goods that are branded, storable and subject to stochastic price fluctuations. Our framework accounts for how inventories and expectations of future prices affect current period purchase decisions. We estimate our model...

The paper looks at the impact of the exchange rate regime and the household’s choice of debt. One of the characteristics of economic transition in eastern European countries was an increase in overall debt holding. Standard economic theory assumes the relationship S=I. According to this...

Retail electricity rates have been kept flat for the past century due to the lack of advanced metering technology and infrastructure. The flat-rate structure prevents consumers from responding to the fluctuation of actual costs of electricity generation, which varies hourly (or even...

This paper creates a mathematical model in which the banks are faced with two optimization problems. The first optimization problem is how to optimize their behavior in order to maximize profits. The second optimization is how to optimize the structure of liabilities in order to have minimum...

It is assumed that human knowledge-building depends on a discrete sequential decision-making process subjected to a stochastic information transmitting environment. This environment randomly transmits Shannon type information-packets to the decision-maker, who examines each of them for relevancy...

We consider a health authority seeking to allocate annual budgets optimally over time to minimize the discounted social cost of infection(s) evolving in a finite set of R = 2 groups. This optimization problem is challenging, since as is well known, the standard epidemiological model describing...

The optimal stopping problem for the risk process with interests rates and when claims are covered immediately is considered. An insurance company receives premiums and pays out claims which have occured according to a renewal process and which have been recognized by them. The capital of the...