My dissertation consists of two unrelated essays. In the first essay, "Wage Subsidy in an Optimal Redistribution Program", I analyze the efficiency of income transfers and wage subsidies as instruments of income redistribution in an optimal taxation framework. I extend the Mirrlees model (1971) of income inequality by specifying a model in which individuals' productivity and wages depend on investment in skill acquisition in addition to ability. The principal result of the research is that a wage subsidy has an important role to play in an optimal system of income maintenance. In the second essay, "Bundling Hardware and Software", a class of simple models is analyzed to explain prevailing bundling practices in computer markets. A profit-maximizing monopolist may over-provide hardware-software bundles, practice "pure bundling" when preferences are symmetric with respect to software, and under-bundle and under-produce software when preferences are asymmetric.

In this dissertation, structural models that utilize parametric and nonparametric approaches are developed that are used to measure competition and cost efficiency in the US banking industry (1990--96). Competition in loan and deposit markets is studied using the method of conjectural variations (Bresnahan, 1982). The results indicate that market imperfections present are negligible, and that loan and deposit services are competitively priced. Cost efficiency is studied using a stochastic cost frontier in the spirit of Bauer (1990), and cost increases above optimal levels are assigned to technical and allocative inefficiencies. The results indicate that technical inefficiency is the major cause for deviations from the cost frontier and allocative inefficiency is declining during this period.

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The aggregate market of the Eastern United States is quantitatively modelled and the interaction of its components measured. Concrete and paving aggregate were the selected types for the purposes of this study. Using 1987 as base year, production is segmented into geographic units by using information obtained from the Mine Safety and Health Administration. The quarry price is given by an empirical relation, accounting for urbanization, and based on an extensive telephone survey. The global demand is determined by econometric procedures. The break-down by geographic unit is performed using construction data in an input/output manner. Transport, which is multi-modal, is simulated by linear programming. These concepts are consolidated by the optimisation of aggregate distribution. The model developed is used to simulate different situations, demonstrating the reliability of the obtained solutions.

<p> The objective of the mixed-methods research project was to expand understanding of economic incentives and barriers to international expansion for small and medium sized enterprises located in the coastal counties of South Carolina. Growing global markets are linked to increased opportunities for smaller enterprises to participate in international commerce. Limited understanding of incentives that enable success and techniques effective for overcoming barriers that restrict South Carolina firms from rewarding participation in international markets was the research problem addressed in the study. The purpose of the study was to explore the international expansion experience of leaders for South Carolina small and medium-sized enterprises and examine differences in leader-perceived levels of success for Lowcountry firms because of international status. The project was a mixed methods study using an exploratory, sequential design with an initial stream employing qualitative techniques followed by a subsequent stream using quantitative tools to analyze survey data. Qualitative interview techniques were used to engage a limited number of firms to acquire data on common internationalization experiences among participants. Three internationalization incentives and three barriers were identified. Hypotheses developed from the initial strand of the project were then answered using analysis of survey data collected via a census of the available population. Triangulation of data from two phases of the mixed-methods study revealed foreign market opportunity and supply chain resources as incentives, and ample domestic-market opportunity as a significant barrier to international commerce. Leaders of internationally active firms reported larger customer bases, larger numbers of employees, higher levels of competition, and higher five-year average rates of revenue growth.</p>

<p> There is much debate over the efficacy of corporate governance in mitigating agency costs and improving the correlation between firm performance and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) pay. Research on this topic ranges from theories which maintain that CEO compensation in the U.S. is commensurate with CEO ability, and is therefore justified, to theories which maintain that CEOs are little more than overpaid rent extractors. </p><p> I investigate the above dichotomy in the executive compensation literature by examining the impact of corporate governance on excess CEO compensation and firm performance during recessions. Business cycle contractions are challenging times for firms, and arguably a period when stronger corporate governance and CEO ability is significant to the success of the firm. I posit that better governed firms with lower levels of excess compensation outperform their peers in subsequent challenging recessionary periods. </p><p> Stock option grants, a frequently used component of CEO pay packages, are thought to better align CEO and shareholder interests. However, with recent financial scandals there is much concern over this form of equity compensation. I examine the use of employee stock option grants in CEO compensation packages and whether such stock option compensation improves the relationship between CEO compensation and firm performance. </p><p> My research achieves several aims: it extends the literature on the impact of corporate governance on firm performance by using a recessionary period metric, it examines the effectiveness of corporate governance in mitigating agency costs, it examines excess CEO compensation and this excess compensation connection with CEO ability or CEO rent extraction during recessionary periods, and it examines the impact of stock option grants in CEO pay packages on firm performance during recessionary periods. I find support for a decrease in abnormal return associated with trading on stronger corporate governance and support for rent extraction in the CEO compensation process during the 2001 recession. </p>

<p> Local retail jewelry leaders of Saudi Arabian (S.A.) small to medium enterprises (SMEs) have struggled to survive through declining profits and increasing business foreclosures, thus threatening the sustainability of the Saudi retail sector and the Saudi economy. A globalization strategy to enhance profitability for jewelry retail SMEs in S.A. is needed, given the limited options for improving profitability. Despite this acknowledged need, leaders in S.A. have refrained from such a strategy because they lack knowledge of economic attraction features to target in the globalization process. The purpose of this quantitative correlational study using discriminant analysis was to examine specific countries' economic attraction features in the historical globalization strategy of a leading U.S. global jewelry company that could facilitate the implementation of a successful globalization strategy for a local Saudi jewelry SME retail company. The study addressed the effects of 6 independent predictor variables of 25 target countries' economic attractions on the dependent grouping variable, which distinguished among 3 order-of-entry groups according to the U.S. company's date of entry in each country between 1972 and 2009. Results indicated that except for the Hofstede index, no other variable had a significant role in the classification of the target countries. Because there was a scarcity of research on this topic, the study is beneficial for its theoretical and academic value, and may be practical for the derivative benefits of catalyzing business growth by empowering leaders of local, successful luxury brands in S.A. to implement their own globalization expansion process and increase employment in the Middle East.</p>

The merger provisions of the Competition Act proclaimed on June 19, 1986 are similar in with section 7 of the Clayton Act and the decisions of U.S. Courts in antitrust merger cases. In the U.S. and Canada a merger may be enjoined only if it is likely to lessen competition substantially. Subsection 92(2) and section 93 of the Competition Act supply a list of factors that may be used in the assessment of the probable impact on competition that a merger could have. The author discusses the meaning of subsection 92(2) of the Competition Act and the relevance of the "structure-conduct-performance paradigm" to horizontal merger analysis in the Canadian context. / The author proceeds to a comparative analysis of the U.S. and Canadian antitrust regimes. The meaning of subsection 92(2) remains unsettled since the Competition Tribunal has not yet made a decision on the merits in a contested merger. The interpretation of subsection 92(2) suggested differs from that of the Director of Investigation and Research (Bureau of Competition Policy) and most antitrust commentators in Canada. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

Depending on the legal tradition one belongs to, the price is or is not a material term of contract. In American law, the Uniform Commercial Code expressly authorizes the open price contract. On the contrary, the French Civil Code forbids it and renders such a contract void for indefiniteness. This situation does not favor the international relations since, in many cases, the national courts seized read the international contract or law through the lenses of domestic law or principles. / To avoid these consequences, a great harmonization has been undertaken since 1929. This effort resulted first in the adoption of the articles 14 and 55 of the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods. However, these articles conflict with one another and this results in several possible interpretation by the national courts. / A work of harmonization has been completed since then by UNIDROIT and resulted in the adoption of the General Principles of International Commercial Contracts. / The purpose of this thesis is to criticize the open price system adopted by UNIDROIT and analyse the future of such a principle in the international and national settings. / Because of their extreme divergence this study will compare the Uniform Commercial Code's open price system and the French civil code.

The 1980s can easily be qualified as the most important decade in the history of Canadian commercial aviation as it was witness to two important phenomena. To begin with, after six decades of stringent regulation and control, the State finally realized that international trends and domestic needs dictated a drastic reduction in the role it played in the economic affairs of its airlines. Airline deregulation thus became a reality in Canada and as such, a detailed review of the process leading to the adoption of the National Transportation Act, 1987, as well as an extensive legal analysis of the legislation itself are warranted. / The second major development was the extremely rapid process of consolidation, precipitated mainly by deregulation, into an industry dominated by two airlines; a duopoly. The implications arising from this situation for present and future competition in the Canadian air transport industry, as viewed from a market contestability perspective, need to be assessed.