The economic decisions of rational agents can be analyzedby theoretical models and/or empirical models. This dissertationconsists of two different applications of empirical models on twodifferent economic conundrums, both based on theoretical hypotheses.The first chapter introduces the related...

The development and performance of an electricity load-forecasting model, with meteorological parameters as forcing terms, is investigated. This study aims to answer the question of how to assess what a good forecast is and how it can be achieved. Econometric techniques including ordinary least...

This work examines issues in the pricing of financial transmission rights in the PJM market region. The US federal government is advocating the creation of large-scale, not-for-profit regional transmission organizations to increase the efficiency of the transmission of electricity. As a...