Does consumer behavior exhibit time inconsistency? This is an essential, yet difficult question to answer. This dissertation attempts to answer this question based on a large-scale randomized experiment in the credit card market. Specifically,we apply both time consistent preferences...

This dissertation contains three chapters. It analyzes a market where firms can choose whether or not to publicly post their prices. Price posting rewards a firm by reducing search costs for customers and thus attracting more demand, at the risk of triggering more direct price competition.In the...

Chapter 1: Why Is the Sex Ratio Unbalanced in China? The Roles of the One-Child Policy, Underdeveloped Social Insurance, and Parental ExpectationsThe sex ratio imbalance in China has reached such an alarming level that, by 2020, men of marriageable age are estimated to outnumber women by 24...

There are hundreds of thousands of crude oil and natural gas wells across North America that are currently not producing oil or gas. Many of these wells have not been permanently decommissioned to meet environmental standards for permanent closure, but are in an inactive state that enables them...

Chapter 1: Capacity and Utilization Choice in the US Oil Refining IndustryThis paper presents a new dynamic model of the operating and investmentdecisions of US oil refiners. The model enables me to predict how shocks to crudeoil prices and refinery shutdowns (e.g., in response to hurricanes)...

We extend economic analysis of the nuclear power industry by developing and employing three tools. They are 1) compilation and unification of operating and accounting data sets for plants and sites, 2) an abstract industry model with major economic agents and features, and 3) a model of nuclear...