Derivatives and Default Risk

Upstream producers that possess market power, sell forwards with a lengthy duration to regional electricity companies (REC). As part of the liberalization of the electricity market, RECs have been privatized and exposed to a possible bankruptcy threat if spot prices have fallen below their expected value. The downstream firms’ expected profit is larger, when it is less likely to be bailed out, the effect on upstream profits is ambiguous while consumers loose. Options are less welfare increasing than forwards, but the difference is minimal. In the presence of bankruptcy, options are the preferred welfare maximizing market instrument

Learning and Technology Adoptions

This essay studies the optimal timing for a firm to adopt a new process innovation in the presence of learning. A policy that has been implemented by governments throughout the world to reduce the cost level of infant industries with positive externalities, is to either subsidize the research of these technologies or their distribution. This model demonstrates how government interventions can affect the optimal timing for adoption of a new technology. Furthermore this essay makes predictions on how the effects change, when the total quantity that can be produced is fixed; the installations of wind powered energy plants exemplify this point. Depending on whether producer rents, consumer rents or early implementation are more important to the government, the model offers the appropriate tools to attain its objective

Derivatives and Default Risk

Upstream producers that possess market power, sell forwards with a lengthy duration to regional electricity companies (REC). As part of the liberalization of the electricity market, RECs have been privatized and exposed to a possible bankruptcy threat if spot prices have fallen below their expected value. The downstream firms’ expected profit is larger, when it is less likely to be bailed out, the effect on upstream profits is ambiguous while consumers loose. Options are less welfare increasing than forwards, but the difference is minimal. In the presence of bankruptcy, options are the preferred welfare maximizing market instrument.Forwards; Options; Default Risk; Market Efficiency

Optimal Fertility Decisions in a Life Cycle Model

This model is the first to solve for the optimal timing of childbirth and number of children in a continuous time framework simultaneously. The model depicts how changes in wage at different stages of an individual’s life influence the timing decision of childbirth and the optimal number of children. When a woman wants to have more children, she decides to have them at a younger age. Medical research that extends the fecund life span induces women to have fewer children. A reduction of the parental leave due to daycare centers or a reduction in the costs of leave due to child benefits increase the number of children. Women value labour more, when they face the risk of an unknown divorce. This paper also shows that divorce does not change the timing of childbirth directly, it influences the number of children negatively and the reduced number of children delays the timing. The model can be used to predict upper bound fertility rates, when the expected divorce rate continues to increase

Energy-aware coordination of machine scheduling and support device recharging in production systems

Electricity generation from renewable energy sources is crucial for achieving climate targets, including greenhouse gas neutrality. Germany has made significant progress in increasing renewable energy generation. However, feed-in management actions have led to losses of renewable electricity in the past years, primarily from wind energy. These actions aim to maintain grid stability but result in excess renewable energy that goes unused. The lost electricity could have powered a multitude of households and saved CO2 emissions. Moreover, feed-in management actions incurred compensation claims of around 807 million Euros in 2021. Wind-abundant regions like Schleswig-Holstein are particularly affected by these actions, resulting in substantial losses of renewable electricity production. Expanding the power grid infrastructure is a costly and time-consuming solution to avoid feed-in management actions. An alternative approach is to increase local electricity consumption during peak renewable generation periods, which can help balance electricity supply and demand and reduce feed-in management actions. The dissertation focuses on energy-aware manufacturing decision-making, exploring ways to counteract feed-in management actions by increasing local industrial consumption during renewable generation peaks. The research proposes to guide production management decisions, synchronizing a company's energy consumption profile with renewable energy availability for more environmentally friendly production and improved grid stability

Learning and Technology Adoptions

This essay studies the optimal timing for a firm to adopt a new process innovation in the presence of learning. A policy that has been implemented by governments throughout the world to reduce the cost level of infant industries with positive externalities, is to either subsidize the research of these technologies or their distribution. This model demonstrates how government interventions can affect the optimal timing for adoption of a new technology. Furthermore this essay makes predictions on how the effects change, when the total quantity that can be produced is fixed; the installations of wind powered energy plants exemplify this point. Depending on whether producer rents, consumer rents or early implementation are more important to the government, the model offers the appropriate tools to attain its objective.Learning; Process Innovation; Optimal Control; Infant industry