Veblen effects and counter-effects occur when product prices signal consumer wealth. This study quantifies such effects and counter-effects through a quasiexperimental approach that addresses identification threats inherent to social interactions, unobserved supply factors, alternative social...

The authors investigate conditions under which it is optimal for a service firm to disclose error-free delivery-time performance information or to allow consumers to rely on error-prone proxies that are typically available to them. Proxies are allowed to exhibit different degrees and forms of...

Plastic pollution is a pressing issue because authorities struggle to contain and process the enormous amount of waste produced. We study the potential for reducing plastic waste by examining the efficiency with which different Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) bottles deliver beverages. We find...

Standard choice models used to optimize product line prices are effective at capturing the effects of prices on the affordability of products but do not incorporate intraline price spillovers, or the effects of prices on consumer preferences for branded product lines. To date, no approach exists...

The authors study the effect of changes in the U.S. income distribution on assortment size in the mainstream grocery channel. Census demographics for 1,711 counties are matched to local assortment data from Nielsen in 944 grocery product categories from 2007 to 2013. The authors show that –...

This study proposes and applies an empirical approach to measure and explain product positionality, or the ability of a product to signal the socioeconomic status of consumers. The proposed approach identifies the social utility that consumers draw from different positional products from the...