Primäres Ziel dieser Arbeit war die Entwicklung neuer heuristischer Lösungsverfahren für die logistische Tourenplanung bei restringierendem Anhängereinsatz (engl. Truck and Trailer Routing Problem). Kennzeichnend für dieses kombinatorische Optimierungsproblem ist, dass Fahrzeuge einen...

This paper develops a stochastic model for estimating the probability density function of the Average Crop Revenue Election (ACRE), a revenue-based commodity support payment that is offered under the 2008 Farm Act as an alternative to the traditional suite of price-based commodity payments, that...

This paper develops a stochastic model for comparing payments to U.S. corn producers under the U.S. Senate’s Average Crop Revenue Program (ACR) versus payments under the price-based marketing loan benefit and countercyclical payment programs. Using this model, the paper examines the...

In many regression applications, users are often faced with difficulties due to nonlinear relationships, heterogeneous subjects, or time series which are best represented by splines. In such applications, two or more regression functions are often necessary to best summarize the underlying...

This dissertation consists of three essays studying various issues in applied microeconomic theory.The first essay proposes a model of two-party elections in which voters' preferences over candidates is affected by their perception on candidates' sincerity. In equilibrium, the following...

This dissertation considers three topics in professional advising and forecasting. Chapter 1 examines a principal's optimal contracting with experts. In an environment where experts have heterogeneous private signal distributions and type dependent reservation utilities, we show that the...