Information Uncertainty

This new working paper (July 2023) considers markets where both the seller and buyers may not know the quality of the asset and each market participant does not know whether other market participants know. the paper shows that this may lead to situations where the asset is not traded even if market participants are symmetrically informed.

Information Acquisition and Diffusion in Markets

This paper shows that word-of-mouth communication can prevent the well-known Diamond paradox to arise in a sequential search model. Consumers that do not search themselves may get informed about more prices and buy at the lowest price. The paper is now accepted for publication at International Economic Review.

Consumer Search and Product Returns in E-Commerce

This paper studies competitive markets where consumers have to inspect products to see whether they like them. It shows how firms strategically choose their product return strategy to induce consumers to buy their product before inspecting it. It asks whether from an efficiency point of view the market creates too many or too few products returns. The paper is now accepted for publication at American Economic Journal: Micro.

Influencing Search

The paper shows that in search markets an influencer who recommends a product to her followers improves consumer surplus and total welfare despite the firm paying for her recommendation.
The paper is now accepted for publication at Rand Journal of Economics.

Dynamic Pricing with Uncertain Capacities

New June 2022: We analyze markets, such as those for airline tickets and hotel accommodations, where firms sell time-dated products and have private information about unsold capacities. We show that firms have less market power as under complete information. The paper is now accepted for publication at Management Science.