Thesis advisor: Richard J. Arnott / This dissertation comprises three papers that are concerned with the implications of strategic interactions between a finite set of agents in private goods economies. One form of strategic behavior I consider arises in a social network when the consumption decisions of agents are influenced by those around them. The other form of strategic behavior I consider arises when agents bargain with one another. The first paper focuses on undirected networks in which consumers care about the average of their neighbors' consumption. The main contribution is to show how social networks affect equilibrium prices. I show that if every consumer has the same number of neighbors, then each consumer's influence on the market is independent of the number of neighbors. Due to the tradeoff between more neighbors responding and less sensitive responses, greater network intensity may not result in greater average influence of all consumers. In addition, I show that a consumer who is central in the network may not have the highest influence on the market because of the need to consider not only the number of neighbors that he has or his distances to other consumers, but also the number of neighbors that his neighbors have. The second paper examines strategic consumption in a directed network. The main contribution is to show how directed networks affect equilibrium outcomes. I show how the critical and promising links, and the key players in a social network can be identified. In doing so, I introduce the impact centrality and reaction centrality measures, and show how these measures are used to determine the effects on aggregate centrality of removing any agent from the network, and of removing or adding any directed link. The third paper considers bargaining under two-sided incomplete information in a market with multiple buyers and sellers, each with either high or low independent private values. I show that there exists a mechanism that guarantees efficient trading outcomes even when gains from trade are uncertain. The main contribution of this paper to show that a large number of traders is not necessary to guarantee efficient trading if there are at least as many sellers as there are buyers, and there is at least one low valuation buyer. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2009. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Economics.

Dans un monde où les réseaux deviennent une forme dominante d’organisation, la structure des réseaux et la position des individus en leur sein affectent les comportements individuels et les résultats économiques agrégés. L’analyse de la formation des réseaux par un planificateur central ou par les individus est au cœur de cette thèse en économie des réseaux. Le Chapitre 1 étudie de manière théorique la formation et la protection optimale des réseaux par un planificateur central sachant qu’un agent externe peut détruire k liens. La protection s’effectue soit en densifiant les liens entre les nœuds, soit en protégeant les liens. Lorsque le coût de protection est suffisamment faible, un réseau minimalement connecté constitué de liens protégés garantit le flux de communication; si ce coût est élevé, la solution optimale est de former un réseau symétrique où chaque nœud possède au moins k+1 liens non-protégés. Le Chapitre 2 explore la formation décentralisée de réseaux en laboratoire en analysant les décisions individuelles de formation de liens lorsqu’un agent a une valeur supérieure aux autres et que le processus de formation de liens est séquentiel. Les résultats montrent que la séquentialité facilite la coordination sur des réseaux efficaces mais qui ne correspondent pas à l’équilibre parfait en sous-jeu. L’hétérogénéité entre les agents accroit l’asymétrie du réseau en raison de la polarisation des liens sur l’agent à valeur supérieure. Le Chapitre 3 étudie l’impact de la formation endogène d’un réseau sur l’importance des effets de pairs, avec une application aux comportements malhonnêtes. Afin d’identifier les effets des comparaisons sociales, deux environnements contrôlés sont créés en laboratoire dans lesquels les individus choisissent ou non leurs pairs, puis observent leur comportement. Les résultats montrent que les effets de pairs sur les comportements malhonnêtes sont significativement accrus lorsque les individus peuvent choisir leurs pairs. / In a world where networks become a dominant form of organization, the structure of networks and the position of individuals in these networks affect individual behavior and aggregate economic outcomes. The analysis of network formation by a central planner or by individuals themselves is at the heart of this thesis on the economics of networks.Chapter 1 theoretically studies the optimal formation and protection of networks by a central planner knowing that an external agent can destroy k links. The protection of the network can be guaranteed either by densifying the links between nodes, or by protecting the links. When the cost of protection is relatively small, a minimally connected network composed of protected links guarantees the communication flow; if this cost is high, the optimal solution is to form a symmetric network where each node has at least k+1 non-protected links.Chapter 2 explores the decentralized formation of networks in the laboratory by analyzing individual linking formation decisions when one agent has a higher value than others and that the linking formation process is sequential. The results show that sequentiality facilitatesthe coordination on efficient networks but that do not correspond to the Subgame PerfectEquilibrium. The heterogeneity across agents increases the asymmetry of networks because of the polarization of links on the agent with a higher value.Chapter 3 studies the impact of the endogenous formation of networks on the importance of peer effects, applied to dishonest behavior. In order to identify the effects of social comparisons, two controlled environments are designed in the laboratory in which individuals choose or not their peers, and then observe their behavior. The results show that peer effects on dishonest behavior are significantly higher when individuals can choose their peers.

<p>The complex and distributed nature of wireless networks have traditionally made allocation of network resources between network stakeholders a challenging task. In the next generation of wireless networks, allocation mechanisms must be able to address these traditional challenges while also addressing new challenges. New challenges arise as networks adopt changing business relationships between existing stakeholders, introduce new stakeholders with diverse interests, integrate intelligent and autonomous systems, and contend with emerging security threats. To address these new challenges, wireless network engineers will require a fundamental understanding of systems consisting of strategic decision makers with competing interests. Our contribution to this understanding is threefold: First, we study a novel moral hazard that that can occur when payment mechanisms are used to incentivize cooperation between multi-hop network nodes. Second, we introduce a network sharing framework that enables 5G/beyond-5G mobile operators to split shared infrastructure costs subject to a regulatory constraint on the cost structure of the shared network. Lastly, we study reliable communication over an adversarial channel in which the adversary can compute side-information subject to a practical computational bound. For each of the above three topics, we provide both analytical and numerical studies from which we derive insights into the design of allocation mechanisms.</p>

<p>The social change, with Internet as one of its innovations, is changing the way business is conducted. The main objective is to study and get a better understanding of the use of Internet as a new sales channel when there already exist a sales channel including middlemen. A description is made covering the decision situation and three areas that are affecting the decision - relationships to the middlemen, added value in the channels, and financials. European airlines as represented i Sweden and US airlines were interviewed. For explorative purposes interviews have been made with travel agents. No primary data is collected from the travel customers. Security issues and other barriers for Internet adoption are not studied. The conclusion of the study is that managers should focus on action more than"rational decison making". If the middlemen will be bypassed it is important to communicate with them. It is also necessary to have upper management's support. One of the driving forces for implementing Internet as a sales channel in the airline industry is to create customer ownership. Three generic formats for doing so is identified - learing relationship, verical facilitator, and meta intermediary.</p>

The social change, with Internet as one of its innovations, is changing the way business is conducted. The main objective is to study and get a better understanding of the use of Internet as a new sales channel when there already exist a sales channel including middlemen. A description is made covering the decision situation and three areas that are affecting the decision - relationships to the middlemen, added value in the channels, and financials. European airlines as represented i Sweden and US airlines were interviewed. For explorative purposes interviews have been made with travel agents. No primary data is collected from the travel customers. Security issues and other barriers for Internet adoption are not studied. The conclusion of the study is that managers should focus on action more than"rational decison making". If the middlemen will be bypassed it is important to communicate with them. It is also necessary to have upper management's support. One of the driving forces for implementing Internet as a sales channel in the airline industry is to create customer ownership. Three generic formats for doing so is identified - learing relationship, verical facilitator, and meta intermediary.

Cette thèse par articles se compose de trois chapitres. Le premier chapitre traite principalement de l’urbanisation. Il apporte un éclairage sur l’histoire des villes ainsi que sur les évolutions futures attendues. Ainsi, cet aperçu permet de comprendre les grands enjeux pour les décideurs publics concernés par les problèmes de congestion, de pollution, d’étalement urbain, etc. Les phénomènes d’urbanisation comme l’étalement urbain accentuent les enjeux de financement des nouvelles infrastructures de réseaux de télécommunications dans les zones rurales impactées par la hausse du taux d’urbanisation. Les problématiques spécifiques au secteur des transports trouvent aussi leur transposition dans le domaine des réseaux de télécommunications. Un certain nombre d’enseignements issus des politiques de transport peuvent donc être tirés pour la régulation des télécommunications. Le deuxième chapitre vise à répondre à la problématique du financement de nouvelles infrastructures de réseaux. Pour cela, trois essais sont proposés. Dans le premier essai, il est démontré que la menace crédible par l’État du déploiement d’une nouvelle infrastructure de réseaux peut inciter les acteurs privés à investir dans de nouvelles technologies de réseaux. Cette politique incitative n’est pas suffisante. Elle doit s’accompagner d’une politique de régulation de l’accès. Dans le deuxième essai, il est notamment démontré que le prix de l’accès aux infrastructures de réseaux doit intégrer une prime de risque afin que les acteurs privés soient totalement rémunérés pour le risque d’investissement et qu’ils continuent d’être incités à investir dans le futur. Le cadre conceptuel appliqué au marché du Qatar permet d’estimer la prime de risque selon divers scénarii. Enfin, le troisième essai propose une nouvelle approche de régulation pour traiter de la Neutralité du Net. En particulier, il est démontré que des pauses réglementaires (regulatory holidays en anglais) des règles de la Neutralité du Net pourraient s’avérer utiles. En effet, une pause réglementaire de certains principes stricts de la Neutralité du Net permettrait à un opérateur de vendre, pour une période limitée, des capacités supplémentaires aux fournisseurs de contenus et services. A l’issu de cette période, la capacité supplémentaire du réseau pourrait être réallouée à l’ensemble des services Internet soumis au régime du Best-Effort. Ainsi, il est démontré que cette régulation permettrait à la fois d’inciter les fournisseurs d’accès à Internet à investir mais aussi d’assurer une qualité de service relative constante sur Internet. Le troisième chapitre traite de l’effet des bloqueurs de publicités sur le marché de l’Internet. Le modèle théorique met en évidence les effets opposés de la publicité sur les réseaux de télécommunications : la publicité congestionne les réseaux mais permet également de promouvoir la diversité des contenus proposés aux consommateurs. Ainsi, il est démontré que le fournisseur d’accès à Internet peut être incité à intégrer un bloqueur de publicités, ce qui est sous certaines conditions socialement souhaitable du point de vue du bien-être collectif. / This PhD thesis consists of three chapters.The first chapter deals with urbanization. A brief history and forecast of cities are highlighted. This overview explains current and upcoming issues in cities, such as congestion, air pollution, urban sprawl, etc. Urban sprawl, among other things, accentuates the question of how to finance network infrastructures such as telecommunications networks at the local loop level in sparsely populated areas. Specific urban policies can be transposed to telecommunications. Some lessons are valuable to regulate this sector.The second chapter is focuses on funding new telecommunications networks. Three articles are put forth. In the first one, it is shown that the credible threat of a State-owned network can be an incentive for private players to invest in a next-generation access. This incentive regulation, however, does not suffice. It should be accompanied by dedicated access regulation. In the second article, it is shown that the regulated access price must include a risk premium to compensate the incumbent for the investment risk of asymmetric regulation. The proposed theoretical framework applies to the Qatari fixed market. Finally, in the third article, a new regulatory approach is put forth to address the issue of Net Neutrality, in particular, regulatory holidays of Net Neutrality rules can be relevant. This innovative approach would allow an Internet Service Provider, to sell, for a given time period, additional bandwidth to content and service providers. At the end of the period, additional bandwidth could be re-allocated to the Open Internet that functions under the Best-Effort regime. Hence, it is shown that this regulatory approach could be an incentive for Internet service providers to invest in more bandwidth but it would also guarantee, in the long run, a given level of quality of service for Internet services.The third chapter deals with the effect of ad blocking on the Internet. The proposed theoretical model highlights the opposite effects of ad blocking on telecommunications networks: on the one hand, ad blocking reduces network congestion, on the other hand, ad blocking increases available content diversity over the Internet. In consequence, Internet service providers have an incentive to integrate an ad blocker, which can be welfare enhancing under certain specific conditions.

The subject of this diploma thesis "The proposal of a marketing plan for a company specialized in information products" is to suggest a system based on the theoretical background that generates the marketing plan from the input data. The important requirement for this system is to respect the specialization of the company, which operates in the field of information products. The thesis contains the detailed proposal of a prototype system, in which the focus is on the user-friendliness and the complexity considering the scale of the issue analyzed. The proposal also contains the possibilities and the limitations which are the results from the mentioned solution. The proposed prototype is implemented successfully. The work also includes the demonstration of all implemented functions and the description of the improvements that lead to its use also in other areas of business than the market of information products.

El mundo de las telecomunicaciones está cambiando de un escenario donde únicamente las personas estaban conectadas a un modelo donde prácticamente todos los dispositivos y sensores se encuentran conectados, también conocido como Internet de las cosas (IoT), donde miles de millones de dispositivos se conectarán a Internet a través de conexiones móviles y redes fijas. En este contexto, hay muchos retos que superar, desde el desarrollo de nuevos estándares de comunicación al estudio de la viabilidad económica de los posibles escenarios futuros. En esta tesis nos hemos centrado en el estudio de la viabilidad económica de diferentes escenarios mediante el uso de conceptos de microeconomía, teoría de juegos, optimización no lineal, economía de redes y redes inalámbricas. La tesis analiza la transición desde redes centradas en el servicio de tráfico HTC a redes centradas en tráfico MTC desde un punto de vista económico. El primer escenario ha sido diseñado para centrarse en las primeras etapas de la transición, en la que ambos tipos de tráfico son servidos bajo la misma infraestructura de red. En el segundo escenario analizamos la siguiente etapa, en la que el servicio a los usuarios MTC se realiza mediante una infraestructura dedicada. Finalmente, el tercer escenario analiza la provisión de servicios basados en MTC a usuarios finales, mediante la infraestructura analizada en el escenario anterior. Gracias al análisis de todos los escenarios, hemos observado que la transición de redes centradas en usuarios HTC a redes MTC es posible y que la provisión de servicios en tales escenarios es viable. Además, hemos observado que el comportamiento de los usuarios es esencial para determinar la viabilidad de los diferentes modelos de negocio, y por tanto, es necesario estudiar el comportamiento y las preferencias de los usuarios en profundidad en estudios futuros. Específicamente, los factores más relevantes son la sensibilidad de los usuarios al retardo en los datos recopilados por los sensores y la cantidad de los mismos. También hemos observado que la diferenciación del tráfico en categorías mejora el uso de las redes y permite crear nuevos servicios empleando datos que, de otro modo, no se aprovecharían, lo cual nos permite mejorar la monetización de la infraestructura. También hemos demostrado que la provisión de capacidad es un mecanismo válido, alternativo a la fijación de precios, para la optimización de los beneficios de los proveedores de servicio. Finalmente, se ha demostrado que es posible crear roles específicos para ofrecer servicios IoT en el mercado de las telecomunicaciones, específicamente, los IoT-SPs, que proporcionan servicios basados en sensores inalámbricos utilizando infraestructuras de acceso de terceros y sus propias redes de sensores. En resumen, en esta tesis hemos intentado demostrar la viabilidad económica de modelos de negocio basados en redes futuras IoT, así como la aparición de nuevas oportunidades y roles de negocio, lo cual nos permite justificar económicamente el desarrollo y la implementación de las tecnologías necesarias para ofrecer servicios de acceso inalámbrico masivo a dispositivos MTC. / The communications world is moving from a standalone devices scenario to a all-connected scenario known as Internet of Things (IoT), where billions of devices will be connected to the Internet through mobile and fixed networks. In this context, there are several challenges to face, from the development of new standards to the study of the economical viability of the different future scenarios. In this dissertation we have focused on the study of the economic viability of different scenarios using concepts of microeconomics, game theory, non-linear optimization, network economics and wireless networks. The dissertation analyzes the transition from a Human Type Communications (HTC) to a Machine Type Communications (MTC) centered network from an economic point of view. The first scenario is designed to focus on the first stages of the transition, where HTC and MTC traffic are served on a common network infrastructure. The second scenario analyzes the provision of connectivity service to MTC users using a dedicated network infrastructure, while the third stage is centered in the analysis of the provision of services based on the MTC data over the infrastructure studied in the previous scenario. Thanks to the analysis of all the scenarios we have observed that the transition from HTC users-centered networks to MTC networks is possible and that the provision of services in such scenarios is viable. In addition, we have observed that the behavior of the users is essential in order to determine the viability of a business model, and therefore, it is needed to study their behavior and preferences in depth in future studios. Specifically, the most relevant factors are the sensitivity of the users to the delay and to the amount of data gathered by the sensors. We also have observed that the differentiation of the traffic in categories improves the usage of the networks and allows to create new services thanks to the data that otherwise would not be used, improving the monetization of the infrastructure and the data. In addition, we have shown that the capacity provision is a valid mechanism for providers' profit optimization, as an alternative to the pricing mechanisms. Finally, it has been demonstrated that it is possible to create dedicated roles to offer IoT services in the telecommunications market, specifically, the IoT-SPs, which provide wireless-sensor-based services to the final users using a third party infrastructure. Summarizing, this dissertation tries to demonstrate the economic viability of the future IoT networks business models as well as the emergence of new business opportunities and roles in order to justify economically the development and implementation of the new technologies required to offer massive wireless access to machine devices. / El món de les telecomunicacions està canviant d'un escenari on únicament les persones estaven connectades a un model on pràcticament tots els dispositius i sensors es troben connectats, també conegut com a Internet de les Coses (IoT) , on milers de milions de dispositius es connectaran a Internet a través de connexions mòbils i xarxes fixes. En aquest context, hi ha molts reptes que superar, des del desenrotllament de nous estàndards de comunicació a l'estudi de la viabilitat econòmica dels possibles escenaris futurs. En aquesta tesi ens hem centrat en l'estudi de la viabilitat econòmica de diferents escenaris per mitjà de l'ús de conceptes de microeconomia, teoria de jocs, optimització no lineal, economia de xarxes i xarxes inalàmbriques. La tesi analitza la transició des de xarxes centrades en el servici de tràfic HTC a xarxes centrades en tràfic MTC des d'un punt de vista econòmic. El primer escenari ha sigut dissenyat per a centrar-se en les primeres etapes de la transició, en la que ambdós tipus de tràfic són servits davall la mateixa infraestructura de xarxa. En el segon escenari analitzem la següent etapa, en la que el servici als usuaris MTC es realitza per mitjà d'una infraestructura dedicada. Finalment, el tercer escenari analitza la provisió de servicis basats en MTC a usuaris finals, per mitjà de la infraestructura analitzada en l'escenari anterior. Als paràgrafs següents es descriu amb més detall cada escenari. Gràcies a l'anàlisi de tots els escenaris, hem observat que la transició de xarxes centrades en usuaris HTC a xarxes MTC és possible i que la provisió de servicis en tals escenaris és viable. A més a més, hem observat que el comportament dels usuaris és essencial per a determinar la viabilitat dels diferents models de negoci, i per tant, és necessari estudiar el comportament i les preferències dels usuaris en profunditat en estudis futurs. Específicament, els factors més rellevants són la sensibilitat dels usuaris al retard en les dades recopilats pels sensors i la quantitat dels mateixos. També hem observat que la diferenciació del tràfic en categories millora l'ús de les xarxes i permet crear nous servicis emprant dades que, d'una altra manera, no s'aprofitarien, la qual cosa ens permet millorar la monetització de la infraestructura. També hem demostrat que la provisió de capacitat és un mecanisme vàlid, alternatiu a la fixació de preus, per a l'optimització dels beneficis dels proveïdors de servici. Finalment, s'ha demostrat que és possible crear rols específics per a oferir servicis IoT en el mercat de les telecomunicacions, específicament, els IoT-SPs, que proporcionen servicis basats en sensors inalàmbrics utilitzant infraestructures d'accés de tercers i les seues pròpies xarxes de sensors. En resum, en aquesta tesi hem intentat demostrar la viabilitat econòmica de models de negoci basats en xarxes futures IoT, així com l'aparició de noves oportunitats i rols de negoci, la qual cosa ens permet justificar econòmicament el desenrotllament i la implementació de les tecnologies necessàries per a oferir servicis d'accés inalàmbric massiu a dispositius MTC. / Sanchis Cano, Á. (2018). Economic analysis of wireless sensor-based services in the framework of the Internet of Things. A game-theoretical approach [Tesis doctoral]. Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/Thesis/10251/102642