Newspaper critics' movie reviews are often used by potential movie viewers as signals of expert quality assessment. In this paper, we assess if there is any racial bias in these critics' reviews, and if so, what impact these biases have on viewer demand. To do this, we develop a dataset that...

We study dual agency in residential real estate, where the same agent/agency represents both the buyer and seller. We assess the extent to which dual agency suffers from an inherent conflict of interest, where the dual agent furthers the interest of one client at the expense of the other...

The impact of a firm's strategic marketing mix choices on profitability can be evaluated by understanding the impact of those choices on consumer demand for the firm's products and on the firm's costs. Additionally, a firm's strategic marketing mix choices, and its demand and costs can be...

Consumer goods manufacturers usually sell their brands to consumers through common independent retailers. Theoretical research on such channel structures has analyzed the optimal behavior of channel members under alternative assumptions of manufacturer-retailer interaction (Vertical Strategic...

This study describes a quot;cheap-talkquot; model in which sellers can credibly convey unverifiable information by choosing whether or not to exaggerate verifiable information. We find that unexaggerated claims can communicate favorable unverifiable information if buyers are not too likely to...

We examine the effects of the regulation of dual agency in residential real estate transactions, for 10,888 transactions in Long Island, New York in 2004-2007. We find that dual agency has an overall null effect on sale price, but includes two opposing forces where buyer and seller interests...

We examine two questions: Does precision or roundedness of prices bias magnitude judgments? If so, do these biased judgments affect buyer behavior? In a laboratory pre-test, we find that people incorrectly judge precise prices (e.g., $325,425) to be lower than round prices of similar magnitudes...

This paper exploits a unique natural experiment - Cornell University's 1996 decision to publish course median grades online - to examine the effect of grade information on course selection and grade inflation. We model students' course selection as dependent on their tastes, abilities, and...

We study the market for new (movie) DVDs in the United States. Our demand model captures seasonality, freshness (i.e. time between theatrical and DVD release), and state dependence. We also develop a structural model of dynamic competition in which studios balance waiting for high demand weeks,...