The work described in this dissertation focuses on the development of a general approach to create nanoscale transition metal chalcogenide materials and new methods for controlling architecture of gold pyramidal structures. In the former, we used chemical nanofabrication, a combination of top-down patterning and bottom-up solid-state synthesis, to achieve control...
In the first chapter, I study how political institutions can affect policymaking when the economy is in transition. I develop a framework where a transition process gradually restructures economic institutions so that the population's long-term preference may differ from its short-term preference. A democracy may fail to implement the optimal...