Thesis (Ph. D.)--State University of New York at Binghamton, Department of Economics, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references.

In this thesis, airline network revenue management problem is considered for the case with no cancellations and overbooking. In literature, there exist several approximate probabilistic and deterministic mathematical models developed in order to maximize expected revenue at the end of the reservation period. The aim of this study is to develop models considering also the risks involved in the proposed booking control policies. Two linear programming models are proposed which incorporate the variance of the revenue. The objective of the models is to effectively balance the tradeoff between the expectation and variance of the revenue. The performances of the proposed models are compared to the previous models through a numerical study. The seat allocations resulting from the mathematical models are used in a simulation model working with several booking control policies. The probability distributions of the revenues are investigated and the revenues are compared in terms of expectation, standard deviation, coefficient of variation and probability of poor performance. It is observed that the use of the proposed models decreases the variability of the revenue and thereby the risk of probability of poor performance. Also, the expected revenues obtained by implementing the solutions of the proposed models with nested booking control policies turn out to be higher than other probabilistic models as long as the degree of variance incorporation is within some interval. When compared with the deterministic models, the proposed models provides for the decision makers with alternative, preferable policies in terms of the expectation and the variability measures.

I examined how politics affects corporate policies and value in two dissertation essays. In my first essay, we investigate whether diversity in points of view within corporate boards, as captured by the diversity in political ideology of board members, can affect a firm's performance. We employ personal political contributions' data to measure political ideology distance among groups of inside, outside directors and the CEO. Our empirical evidence strongly supports the notion that outside directors' monitoring effectiveness is more likely to be enhanced when their viewpoints are distinct from those of management. We find that ideologically diverse boards are associated with better firm performance, lower agency costs and less insiders' discretionary power over the firm's Political Action Committee (PAC) spending. Taken together, our results lead us to conclude that multiplicity of standpoints in corporate boardrooms is imperative for board effectiveness. In my second essay, we document that firms surrounded by high degrees of policy risk generated by local politicians' legislative activities present significantly high stock returns, indicating investors' perception of policy risk. We find that the diverse political strategies firms implement 1) successfully mitigate such policy risk, 2) help firms to acquire more lucrative procurement contracts, and 3) even get firms in trouble with legal issues. Additional results reveal that poor stock performance related to litigation is significantly recovered by political connections. Overall, our results reflect that investors view corporate political activities as effective hedging strategies against policy risk. Collectively, politics plays a critical role in determining corporate policies and/or value.

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Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2006. / Title from first page of PDF file. Includes bibliographical references (p. 127-133).

Dissertation (Ph.D.)--University of South Florida, 2006. / Title from PDF of title page. Document formatted into pages; contains 303 pages. Includes bibliographical references.

Reflecting on fieldwork carried out in the UK insurance sector, the thesis explores the role played by various types of actuarial and hydrological expertise in the performance of flooding as a matter of sustained public concern. In doing so, the question is raised: what analytical status to give the concept of risk when accounting for the epistemic doings involved in bringing yet unrealised future floods to bear on the present? Contrary to most other European countries the provision of flood insurance in the UK is left to the market and organised via an agreement under which insurers pledge to provide cover in areas protected by the Government to a standard of 1:75 years (the average return period between floods). What should be taken into account when mapping out this 1:75 year flood zone is subject to debates constantly revitalised by flood events with changing characteristics as well as new ways of modelling and anticipating what has yet to take place. How should we understand the knowledge claims hardwired into these debates through the involvement of actuarial and hydrological expertise? The thesis will argue that a reorientation of flood risk away from a status as the (multiple) object of these claims towards a status as an event in which a diverse variety of other things are brought into being (maps, futures, frequencies, anxieties, publics, geographies, things which are not necessarily very well understood as risk per se), will give rise to more productive and eventful questions. In the terminology of Isabelle Stengers, to risk is to create the possibility of bringing new things to life – the risking of floods seems to be constantly exciting such creativities.

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The thesis constitutes a detailed historical reconstruction of the creation, contestation and subsequent amendment of the Imprisonment for Public Protection sentence, the principal ‘dangerous offender’ measure of the Criminal Justice Act 2003. Underpinned by an interpretive political analysis of penal politics, the thesis draws on a detailed analysis of relevant documents and 53 interviews with national level, policy-oriented actors. The thesis explores how actors’ conceptions of ‘risk’ and ‘the public’ interwove with the political beliefs and political traditions relied upon by the relevant actors. It is argued that while there was general recognition of a ‘real problem’ existing in relation to dangerous offenders, the central actors in the creation of the IPP sentence crucially lacked a detailed understanding of the state of the art of risk assessment and management (Kemshall, 2003) and failed to appreciate the systemic risks posed by the IPP sentence. The creation of the IPP sentence, as with its subsequent amendment, is argued to highlight the extreme vulnerability felt by many government actors. The efforts of interest groups and other pressure participants to have their concerns addressed regarding the systemic and human damage subsequently caused by the under-resourcing of the IPP sentence is explored, and the challenge of stridently arguing for substantial change while maintaining ‘insider’ status is discussed. As regards senior courts’ efforts to rein in the IPP sentence, it is argued that the increasingly conservative nature of the judgments demonstrate that the judiciary are not immune from the creep of a ‘precautionary logic’ into British penal politics. Regarding the amendment of the IPP sentence, the Ministry of Justice’s navigation between the twin dangers of a systemic crisis and a political crisis are explored. In conclusion, the IPP story is argued to demonstrate a troubling ‘thoughtlessness’ by many of the key policymakers, revealing what is termed the ‘banality of punitiveness.’ The potential for a reliance on political beliefs and traditions to slip into this thoughtless state, and possible ways of ensuring that such policy issues are engaged with in a more inclusive and expansive manner, are discussed.

In questa tesi si sostiene che il meccanismo di trasmissione della politica monetaria nasconde un canale di trasmissione del rischio, e che una politica monetaria espansiva non solo aumenta l’offerta di credito ma anche la propensione delle banche a prendere rischio. I modelli macroeconomici esistenti non sono adatti ad identificare questo meccahismo, visto che o non incorporano un settore bancario, oppure si concentrano sull’amplificazione finanziaria dopo una crisi piuttosto che sulla presa del rischio prima delle crisi. La tesi propone un semplice modello in cui il rischio di credito e di insolvenza e’ modellato endogenamente. Il modello mostra l’esistenza di un trade-off tra quantita’ e qualita’ del credito, il che puo’ avere importanti ripercussioni per la gestione della politica monetaria. Successivamente, la tesi sviluppa un paper empirico e di policy che studia la leva finanziaria delle banche. Si sostiene che le misure tradizionali della leva non possono mostrare un importante peggioramento della qualita’ del capitale delle banche prima della crisi del 2007. Si mostra che la qualita’ di tale capitale e’ progressivamente peggiorata prima della crisi, in particolar modo per le banche commerciali. Viene proposta una misura alternativa della leva finanziaria. / This dissertation argues that the transmission mechanism of monetary policy hides a risk taking channel, as loose monetary policy not only increases credit supply but also increases the propensity of banks to take risks. The existing macroeconomic models are ill-designed to identify the forces of this mechanism, as these models either do not have an explicit banking sector, or they focus on ex-post amplification mechanism rather than ex-ante bank risk taking. A simple model is developed, where credit and solvency risk is determined endogenously. The model shows that a trade-off exists between credit quality and credit quantity, and this trade off impacts on the effectiveness of monetary policy. Subsequently, the dissertation develops an empirical, policy paper that investigates banks leverage ratios. It is argued that traditional measures of leverage cannot detect an important decline in bank capital quality before the 2007 crisis. The dissertation shows that capital quality has declined progressively before the 2007 crisis, particularly for commercial banks. A new leverage ratio is proposed.