This paper presents a comparison of two techniques used to estimate the statistical confidence intervals on modal parameters identified from measured vibration data. The first technique is Monte Carlo simulation, which involves the repeated simulation of random data sets based on the statistics...

The dissertation contains four stand-alone studies, chapters 2 through 5. In chapter 1, I highlight commonalities among the studies. In chapter 2, I consider the principle of structural balance - "The friend of a friend is a friend, the enemy of a friend is an enemy, the friend of an enemy is an...

Previous research suggests that minorities are not faring well in China’s transition—both income and occupational attainment gaps are widening. We are particularly interested in whether the differences in majority and minority economic outcomes are the result of ethnicity per se, or whether...

This paper describes a fresh approach to gathering rich data from ethnic minority consumers (EMCs) to better understand the affects of variations across subgroups upon consumers. The study investigated whether an EMC group in the UK face any barriers in the take-up of products or services....

This paper studies a spatial model of electronic business networkformation where firms build links based on a cost-benefit analysis.Benefits result from directly and indirectly connected firms in terms ofknowledge flows, which are heterogeneous: a 'key-player' (e.g. a firmproviding an exchange...

This paper develops techniques to analyze the adoption decisions of bothconsumers and firms for competing platform intermediaries in two-sidedmarkets, and applies the methodology to empirically measure the impactof vertical integration and exclusive contracting in thesixth-generation of the U.S....

Online Consumer-to-Consumer Communication Networks are characterized by informational and social benefits as well as time and effort costs for participants. Therefore, this dissertation takes an economic perspective on the network formation process as a determinant of value for consumers and...

Die Gründung des GATT Abkommens im Jahr 1947 sowie die Welthandelsorganisation führten zu weltweiten Zollsenkung. Seit deren Gründung haben sich mehr als 150 Länder innerhalb von acht Verhandlungsrunden auf Zollsenkungen von durchschnittlich 40% auf nunmehr 4% geeinigt.Hauptsäule der WTO...

In three chapters I study the formation of social networks, and the impact the structures that arise may have in various economic settings. First, I develop a model of social network formation with heterogeneous agents and incomplete information. The model predicts an equilibrium in which agents...

Since the seminal contribution of Jackson & Wolinsky 1996 [A Strategic Model of Social and Economic Networks, JET 71, 44-74] it has been widely acknowledged that the formation of social networks exhibits a general conflict between individual strategic behavior and collective outcome. What has...