Enterprise Hall, 318
October 27, 2005, 08:00 PM to 07:00 PM
"This thesis examines the relationship between information costs and regulation from a public choice perspective. The first chapter of the thesis proposes a principle-agent model of InestedO capture in which interest groups that capture political players may also capture their own regulators. The second chapter of the thesis presents a game-theoretic model of regulation. In this signaling game model, firms can signal to regulators their political and monetary power. The third chapter or the thesis studies information effects of regulation in financial markets. This event-study analysis asks whether regulatory events produce real firm valuation effects. Results indicate the answer to this question is yes. In all chapters, the nuclear power industry serves as a case study for model predictions. Research for this thesis also resulted in a unique data set that can be used for further studies on the nuclear power industry. "