Reducing automobile-based gasoline consumption has been a major U.S. public policy issue recently. A key driving force behind policymakers' desire is the concern of environmental externalities and national security. Currently, there are three public policies towards reducing automobile gasoline...

Die vorliegende Dissertation besteht aus fünf unabhängigen Forschungspapieren über optimale Steuer- und Bildungspolitik, welche ich während meines Promotionsstudiums an der Universität Konstanz erstellt habe. Private Versicherungen gegen Einkommensrisiko können aufgrund von moral hazard...

We consider an extension of the classical secretary problem where a decision maker observes only the relative ranks of a sequence of up to N applicants, whose true values are i.i.d. U[0,1] random variables. Applicants arrive according to a homogeneous Poisson Process, and the decision maker...

This paper uses analytical and numerical models to illustrate how the presence of other distortions within the transport system changes the overall welfare effect of a congestion tax. These other distortions include a transit fare subsidy, congestion on competing (unpriced) routes, accident...

This paper develops analytical models to estimate the welfare effects of higher Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards on new passenger vehicles. The analysis incorporates a broad range of fuel-and-driving-related externalities, fuel taxes, different assumptions concerning consumers'...

Gasoline taxes are widely perceived as the most efficient instrument for reducing gasoline consumption because they exploit all behavioral responses for reducing fuel use, including reduced driving and improved fuel economy. At present, however, higher fuel taxes are viewed as a political...

This paper develops an analytical framework for assessing the second-best optimal level of gasoline taxation taking into account unpriced pollution, congestion, and accident externalities, and interactions with the broader fiscal system. We provide calculations of the optimal taxes for the US...

Policy intervention in the biofuel market has led to a significant increase in biofuel production and use in the past several years. However, the welfare effect of biofuelpolicies, specifically the ethanol tax credit for corn ethanol, ethanol import tariff andrenewable fuel standard (RFS)...

The dissertation studies a model of an economy which produces and exportsdurable goods. It analyzes the optimal monetary policy for such a country.Generally, monetary policy has a bigger economic effect on durable goods relative tonon-durable goods because durable goods can be stored and...