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A fixed-point approach to equilibrium pricing in differentiated product markets
Morrow, William Ross University of Michigan 2008 해외박사(DDOD)
The use of passenger cars in the U.S. is widely recognized as a primary source of greenhouse gas emissions. Among other concerns related to transportation energy usage, these emissions have motivated policy makers to reform regulatory policies that impact the design and pricing behavior of automotive firms. However many prominent analyses supporting these reforms neglect aspects of imperfect competition that many economists have come to recognize in the automotive industry, particularly Bertrand competition. Understanding the impacts of alternative regulatory policies accounting for imperfectly competitive behavior may improve policy makers' decisions regarding regulatory policy, as well as firms' abilities to profitably respond to the policies chosen. Examining and exploiting this potential first requires further development of the theory of Bertrand competition. This dissertation makes three contributions the application of Bertrand competition in regulated differentiated product markets. We focus on the classes of Logit and Mixed Logit Discrete Choice Random Utility Models of consumer demand and avoid assumptions on the number or type of products offered by different firms. Our first contribution is a proof of the existence of unregulated equilibrium prices for Logit models using a new fixed-point equation equivalent to the first-order necessary condition for equilibrium, minimal assumptions on the utility specification, and mathematical tools from differential topology. This fixed-point equation is then generalized to the class of Mixed Logit models, one of the most flexible and popular empirical forms for representing consumer demand, under a weak hypothesis on the utility specification and mixing distribution. Several numerical approaches based on fixed-point characterizations of stationarity are demonstrated to be efficient and reliable methods for the computation of unregulated equilibrium prices in large-scale and complex differentiated product markets. Finally, we further extend this fixed-point approach to regulated equilibrium pricing problems with regulatory policy forms inspired by those considered for the U.S. automotive industry. Modified fixed-point iterations are derived for a number of regulatory policies with differentiable regulatory costs. A hybrid fixed-point approach is developed for the computation of regulated equilibrium prices under standard-based policies with non-differentiable regulatory costs, such as the Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards currently active in the U.S.
The Homeowner Revolution: Democracy, Land Use and the Los Angeles Slow-Growth Movement, 1965--1992
Morrow, Greg University of California, Los Angeles 2013 해외박사(DDOD)
Using mixed-methods---spatial analysis, regression modeling, and historical evidence---this dissertation explains the origins and impact of Los Angeles's slow-growth movement between the Watts (1965) and Rodney King (1992) civil unrests. Part planning history and part land use analysis, the dissertation explores how land use policy both impacts, and is impacted by, social, economic, and environmental forces through the machinations of local politics. As such, it provides a detailed empirical case study of the relationship between democracy, social capital, and urban planning. The dissertation explains how the slow-growth movement was facilitated by the shift from top-down planning during the pro-growth, post-war period to a bottom-up community planning process post-Watts. The project illustrates the land use changes adopted after Watts, changes that were correlated with socio-economic characteristics and homeowner activity. Areas with well-organized homeowner groups dramatically decreased density as a means of controlling population growth, thus directing the future growth of L.A. to predominately low-income, minority communities---communities least able to accommodate that growth due to overcrowded housing, under-performing schools, limited park space and, in many cases, poor transit access. In short, density was directed to the path of least political resistance, a social injustice that exacerbated spatial disparities between communities. In addition to mapping and regression analysis, the findings are illustrated by three historical group case studies (L.A. Urban League, L.A. Area Chamber of Commerce, Federation of Hillside and Canyon Associations) and two place case studies (Baldwin Hills/Crenshaw and Woodland Hills/Canoga Park). The cases illustrate the motivations and impact of civil rights, business, and homeowner groups, and how land use changes transformed two areas of the city in very different ways. The homeowner revolution in Los Angeles---and its damaging impacts on the City's social, economic, and environmental sustainability---demonstrates the need for the re-assertion of a professional role for planners, a better balance between local and regional concerns, and the critical importance of implementing a planning process that reflects the will of the majority of a City's residents, rather than empower only its most strident voices.