Python is a powerful high-level open source programming language that is available for multiple platforms. It supports object-oriented programming and has recently become a serious alternative to low-level compiled languages such as C + +. It is easy to learn and use, and is recognized for...

This project was conceived as an extensive empirical analysis of the U.S. domestic airline market, to address the question of why there are so many routes operated by few carriers (e.g. under monopoly or duopoly conditions). Questions about market concentration, entry deterrence and reputation...

We develop a flexible multifactor stochastic model with Markov regime-switching spikes, for daily spot and forward electricity. The model captures various stylized features of power prices, including mean reversion and seasonal patterns, and short- lived spikes. Parameters are estimated through...

Vector autoregressions (VARs) are important tools in time series analysis. However, relatively little is known about the finite-sample behaviour of parameter estimators. We address this issue, by investigating ordinary least squares (OLS) estimators given a data generating process that is a...

The purpose of this project was to develop econometric models that will enable us to describe and forecast the evolution of air fares and passenger numbers for the 7 largest U.S. carriers. The principal data source was the Department of Transport's DB1B database, which contains extensive...

The aim of this project is to understand the main determinants of Southwest Airline's presence on U.S. domestic routes, over the period 2002 to 2007. A new dataset has been constructed, using quarterly and annual data from the U.S. Department of Transportation (DB1B and T100 Origin and...

We investigate the presence of significant electricity forward risk premia, using data from three major continental European energy markets - German, Dutch and French. We introduce the risk premium in the framework of a standard electricity spot/forward unobserved factor model, and derive the...