We propose new models, simulations, and data analyses to elaborate on the process of formation of a network. In these models, new agents search edges instead of nodes before connecting to other agents. The edges can represent patents between technology firms, assets between dealers, viruses...

Firms are increasingly adopting installment services to help consumers purchase the product, especially in the context of COVID-19. This paper investigates the firm’s installment service interest and price decisions when it can choose to operate installment service directly (i.e.,...

In this paper, we study how a profit-maximizing platform implements a new policy, from which a representative retailer also experiences a private externality. Our analysis suggests that: (1) when the policy is highly valuable for the platform’s own interest, the platform may charge a fee from...

This paper studies optimal schemes for allocating scarce resources to agents with private demand information and heterogeneous bargaining powers. Through an investigation of a mechanism design model that aims to induce agents to report their demands truthfully, we find the following results....

The retail e-commerce yields lucrative revenue in many industries. In this work, we provide a strategic perspective by investigating how consumer valuation, product quality, and manufacturers’ competition influence the choice of selling agreement using stylized models. The utility and...

Network-based targeting is valuable in many applications such as diffusion of new technology, product promotion in marketing, among others. Nevertheless, how to quantitatively measure the effectiveness of targeting strategies remains a challenge. This paper studies a class of network games with...

This paper studies the impact of mergers between public and private firms in vertically-differentiated markets on product repositioning, profits, consumer surplus, and social welfare. We analyze a game-theoretical model with a public firm and two private firms in which the public firm’s...

This paper examines the dynamic pricing decisions of a monopolist seller when customers have time-inconsistent preferences, which is modeled by quasi-hyperbolic discounting. By considering the cases where customers can be sophisticated, naive, or partially naive about their time-inconsistent...

This paper studies a simultaneous-search problem in which a player observes the outcomes sequentially, and must pay reservation fees to maintain eligibility for recalling the earlier offers. We use postgraduate program applications to illustrate the key ingredients of this family of problems. We...

We study the impact of counterfeiting on a brand-name supply chain’s strategic choice of channel structures and how these structures in turn affect the counterfeiting market. In our model, the supplier can practice costly encroachment by launching a direct channel to sell brand-name products,...