In this dissertation, I study three resource allocation problems. In the first study, I present joint work with Yan Chen, Thomas Finholt, and Kan Takeuchi on a laboratory study evaluating three different package auction mechanisms for allocating access to large scientific equipments. I found...

This dissertation consists of three essays in labor and development economics. The first essay, “Bumpy Rides: School to Work Transitions in South Africa,” quantifies the importance of the option to re-enroll in the school to work transition of South African youth. I estimate a structural...

The dissertation consists of three distinct chapters that contribute to important, yet unresolved topics in Macroeconomics and International Economics.Macroeconomists have been keenly interested in understanding how financial crisis turn into real recessions in emerging markets. By using 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...

This paper explores residential and job location patterns and commuting behavior in a monocentric urban model with decentralized employment. We show that, in some cases, identical households choose different residential rings depending on their workers' job locations. This means that high-income...

Institutional investors supply the bulk of the funds which are used by venture capital investment firms in financing emerging growth companies. These investors typically place their funds in a number of venture capital firms, thus achieving diversification across a range of investment...

The paper analyzes the factors behind the reorientation of transition countries’ exports to their non-traditional partners outside their former block. First, the amount of reorientation is calculated using a gravity model. Then, reasons for the cross-country differences in the rate of closing...

The fact that China is the second largest recipient of FDI in the world has been heralded by economists and government officials alike as one of the crowning achievements of Chinese economy. This paper questions this perspective. The paper focuses on FDI from ethnically Chinese economies (ECEs),...

This paper provides new evidence on progress in transition and the "readiness" of enterprises for accession for the EU using a detailed survey administered to approximately 200 manufacturing firms in each of Poland, Romania, and Spain. A major innovation is the use of a market economy and member...

We analyse Polish active labour market policy (ALMP) training programmes from a macroeconomic (regional) point of view. The effects of training programmes on the outflows from unemployment and the effects of all ALMP programmes on the outflows from employment and the effects of all ALMP...