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Dissertation Information for Scott E. Page

NAME:
- Scott E. Page

DEGREE:
- Ph.D.

DISCIPLINE:
- Management

SCHOOL:
- Northwestern University (USA) (1993)

ADVISORS:
- Stanley Reiter

COMMITTEE MEMBERS:
- Roger Myerson
- Mark Satterthwaite
- Matthew Jackson

MPACT Status: Fully Complete

Title: Public projects with complementarities

Abstract: We consider the problem of deciding among public projects when those projects have complementary values. We formulate the problem as a discrete nonlinear optimization problem whose domain is the set of binary strings. Our analysis can be divided into two parts. We first consider the problem of optimization of functions defined over binary strings. We derive a formula for the variance of string values in hyperplanes using the Walsh Functions and discover a relationship between the variance of string values and deceptiveness. We also develop a measure of complexity, which we call cover size. A cover formalizes the familiar notion of decomposing a large complex problem into smaller subproblems.

In the second part, we examine the multiple public projects problem mentioned above. When the values of projects are interdependent, we demonstrate that neither simultaneous nor sequential implementation of an optimal single project mechanism is likely to lead to the optimal choice over subsets of projects. For positive complementarities and positive unidirectional complementarities, we construct a bottom-up efficient algorithm, ALGO-BU. In the conclusion, we discuss the relative performances of various economic mechanisms and political institutions in the multiple public project problem.

MPACT Scores for Scott E. Page

A = 0
C = 1
A+C = 1
T = 0
G = 0
W = 0
TD = 0
TA = 0
calculated 2010-02-19 12:37:41

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