We consider a single-server scheduling problem given a fixed sequence of job arrivals with random no-shows and service durations. The joint probability distribution of the uncertain parameters is assumed to be ambiguous and only the support and first moments are known. We formulate a class of...

Carsharing has been considered as an effective means to increase mobility, reduce personal vehicle usage and related carbon emissions. In this paper, we consider problems of allocating a carshare fleet to service zones under uncertain one-way and round-trip rental demand. We employ a two-stage...

This paper utilizes a unique county-level dataset to examine technical efficiency and technology gap in China’s agriculture. We classify the counties into four regions with distinctive levels of economic development, and hence production technologies. A meta-frontier analysis is applied to the...

Empirical research on the dynamics of the US dollar price of gold has largely focused on the macroeconomic influence of developed economies and gold's role as a safe haven during times of market turmoil. However, the economies of several emerging markets now account for a substantial fraction of...

We study the dynamic relationship between movements in consumer confidence and equity prices. By conducting the level OLS tests, we have observed a strong contemporaneous relationship between consumer confidence and equity prices. A further VAR analysis justifies that one time lag S&P 500 return...

This paper analyzes the relationship between customer satisfaction and long run stock returns. An equally-weighted portfolio of 230 customer satisfaction score documented companies in American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) delivers a four factor alpha of 6.91% per year. Results are robust...

In merger and acquisition (M&A), we find strong evidence that within a 90 day window of a deal announcement date, analysts are more likely to upgrade their recommendations over the acquirer stocks in deals with cash only payment compared to deals with pure stock payment. To disentangle the means...

We find strong evidence that analysts tend to have downward-biased earnings estimates immediately before merger announcement dates when earning announcement date is within a 60 day window prior to merger announcement date. Compared to pure stock deals, acquirer stocks in cash-only deals tend to...

Problem definition: With the emergence and growth of e-commerce, e-retailers are challenged to provide faster and more cost-effective last-mile delivery by crowdsourcing independent drivers (IDs). To mitigate the risk of insufficient ID supply, retailers such as Amazon, Walmart, and other...