Real-time retail pricing (RTP) of electricity, in which the retail price is allowed to vary with very little time delay in response to changes in the marginal cost of generation, offers expected short-run and long-run benefits at the societal level. While the effects of RTP on most market...

Large incentive competitions are becoming increasingly popular amongst policymakers and philanthropists as a mission-orientated tool for inducing innovation, particularly in areas of national priority where market incentives and conventional tools such as patents and procurements tend not to be...

Regulation of aviation's contribution to the global problem of climate change is increasingly likely in the near term, but the method agreed upon by most economists-a multi-sectoral market-based approach such as a cap and trade system-is opposed by industry stakeholders. An efficient...

The United States government is committed to promoting a market for electric vehicles. To ensure that this electrification program does not result in the same failure that has come be associated with its predecessor programs, Freedom Car and the Partnership for a New Generation of Vehicles,...

Engineering, management, and social science methodologies have been employed to analyze a new asset tracking and management system for human spaceflight applications. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Aurora Flight Sciences developed Rule-based analytic Asset Management for Space...

This thesis uses an innovative approach to explore the much-analyzed U.S. Healthcare system. To be sure, we are fully aware of the challenges involved in making robust system level policy recommendations and how local inefficiencies and hidden uncertainties undermine attempts proposing sweeping...

Sales of services are becoming a major source of revenues across industries. The shift towards services has been exacerbated as human capital has gained in importance in the "knowledge economy." And yet, products businesses have historically attracted, and are still attracting, most of the...

Since the late 1970s, the US electric power industry has been undergoing major changes. The electric utility industry had mainly consisted of highly regulated, vertically integrated, local monopolies, providing customers with all electric services at rates determined by the state regulatory...

The demand for spectrum resources has increased in the past decade due to the flourishing wireless industry worldwide. This change requires Japan's Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC) to establish a transparent, fair and efficient spectrum allocation process that will enable it...

In the traditional approach, spacecraft are tailored to each mission and are associated with high risks and costs and long cycles. Moreover, once launched, their flexibility remains limited. The concept of spacecraft fractionation could enable manufacturers and users to decrease these risks and...