Based on a classical financial market model different model variants known from the literature are discussed and analyzed, each focussing on modeling financial markets as a nonlinear dynamic system by introducing the formation of (heterogeneous) beliefs about future asset prices into the model...

This dissertation contains applications of agent-based financial market models and nonlinear econometric methods in financial economics. The first part deals with the analysis of the effectiveness of currency transaction taxes within financial market models with traders with heterogeneous...

Micro and small companies constitute the backbone of private business in Europe, accounting for nearly 99% of all enterprises, more than half of total employment in the private sector and an even greater proportion of new jobs. Despite their crucial place in the economy, there has been little...

Using long-span data on the dollar-sterling and dollar-franc real exchange rates over the past two centuries, we apply the findings of various strands of the recent literature in order to examine the statistical and economic significance of the Harrod-Balassa-Samuelson effect (the effect of...

This paper investigates the dynamic relation between callers' socialties and their wireless phone service consumption. We construct a largepair-level panel dataset with information on the number of each pair'scommon contacts, calling activities, prices, and each caller'scharacteristics over a...

The scope of my dissertation is to understand how consumers’ online communication affects consumers’ behavior and market outcomes. The recent growth of consumer generated media (CGM), also known as “new” media, has provided consumers easier interaction, both to search for product...

Recent social spending inflation in China has led to its growth rate far exceeding that of income and other consumption. In this paper, we estimate private returns to social spending, such as higher social status and larger social network that serve as certain functions. In almost all...

As networks improve and new services emerge, questions arise that affect service deployments and network choices. The Internet is arguably a successful example of a network shared by many services. However, combining heterogeneous services on the same network need not always be the right answer,...

This dissertation contains three essays that can be read independently. The first chapter examines how a debt crisis can occur and persist as a result of unanticipated, transitory, real interest rate and commodity price shocks. Using an optimal stopping framework, the debtor country's optimal...