University of Minnesota Ph.D. dissertation. August 2009. Major: Economics. Advisor: Aldo Rustichini. 1 computer file (PDF);viii, 104 pages, appendices A-C.

The thesis is based on the notion that a person's behaviour is largelya result of the interplay between his beliefs and values. A model isdescribed which ccmbines Personal Construct Theo~J (as a means ofdescribing beliefs) and Multi-Attributed Utility Theory (as a meansof describing values) in...

This paper proposes a new method, the (gamble-)tradeoff method, for eliciting utilities in decision under risk or uncertainty. The elicitation of utilities, to be used in the expected utility criterion, turns out to be possible even if probabilities are ambiguous or unknown. A disadvantage of...

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Rochester. Dept. of Economics, 2008.

Agencies charged with nature conservation and protecting built-assets from fire face a policy dilemma because management that protects assets can have adverse impacts on biodiversity. Although conservation is often a policy goal, protecting built-assets usually takes precedence in fire...

In direct marketing, understanding the response behavior of consumers to marketing initiatives is a pre-requisite for marketers before implementing targeting strategies to reach potential as well as existing consumers in the future. Consumer response can either be in terms of the incidence or...

This dissertation consists of three essays that apply both economic theory and econometric methods to understand design and dynamics of institutions. In particular, it studies how institutions aggregate information and deal with uncertainty and attempts to derive implications for optimal...

An important issue any organization or individual has to face when managing data containing sensitive information, is the risk that can be incurred when releasing such data. Even though data may be sanitized before being released, it is still possible for an adversary to reconstruct the original...

This paper presents a new axiomatic decision theory for choice under uncertainty. Unlike Bayesian decision theory where uncertainty is represented by a probability function, in our theory, uncertainty is given in the form of a likelihood function extracted from statistical evidence. The...

This half-semester course discusses decision theory and topics in game theory. We present models of individual decision-making under certainty and uncertainty. Topics include preference orderings, expected utility, risk, stochastic dominance, supermodularity, monotone comparative statics,...