This dissertation contains four essays. The first essay, Strategically Giving Service: The Effect of Real-Time Information on Service Efficiency, analyzes the impact of the increased availability of real-time information on the behavior of strategic agents and the implications of this phenomenon for service efficiency using data from one of the...
Unlike other products or services, electricity cannot be easily stored, and its delivery cannot be delayed by keeping customers in queues. The electricity supply has to be instantly available to serve a continuously varying demand. Traditionally, electric utilities would match their supply to the demand by adjusting the production output...