Consumer Search and Product Returns in E-Commerce

This paper, co-authored with Cole Williams, introduces product returns and refund policies in a standard consumer search model a la Wolinsky. It shows that unlike a monopoly context, the market can create too few returns, especially when the cost of inspecting products at home (after purchase) is low and the salvage value of returned products is relatively high.

The paper is now published in the May 2024 issue of the American Economic Journal: Micro; https://www.aeaweb.org/articles/pdf/doi/10.1257/mic.20230040.