A safe and risky seller serve a market. While the expensive safe seller can solve the problems of all consumers, the cheap risky seller can help a consumer only with a certain probability. The risky seller's success probabilities are distributed across consumers; by the choice of her quality the...

A vertical differentiation model is analyzed to study the placing on the market of genetically modified (GM) products in a context where labeling of such products is mandatory, as it is in the European Union. The model has two stages: firms first choose their technology (either GM or...

This study incorporates the concept of time into an analysis of patent litigation and licensing. We show that increasing imitation or litigation costs with a longer imitation lag or litigation time may have effects on licensing, settlement, and fees other than increasing the pecuniary costs. A...

In markets for credence goods, such as doctor visits, customers sample a firm for a few periods, before deciding whether to retain or fire that firm. In our model, customers have endogenously determined patience in tolerating bad outcomes from credence-good providers. The more competitive the...

Most food products can be classified as credence goods, and regulations exist to provide consumers with a substitute for the lacking information and trust. Rather than having no regulation in place, producers of high-quality goods are better off when a compromise is reached that leads to an...

Homogeneous products are often sold by chains and locals but the chains charge higher prices. We explain this pricing pattern as well as the empirical fact that chains became increasingly dominant at the same time as consumer mobility increased: Consumers bear setup costs whenever they visit a...

This paper formalizes the intuition that brands are consumed for image reasons and that advertising creates a brand's image. The key idea is that advertising informs the public of brand names and creates the possibility of conspicuous consumption by rendering brands a signalling device. In a...

We examine the behavior of a firm that produces a product with a privately-observed safety attribute. Costly disclosure and price-signaling of safety are alternative firm strategies. The liability system and production cost determine the firm's full marginal cost. When the firm's full marginal...

Tying contracts are well-known for their anti-competitive potential. This paper questions their negative image by showing that tying contracts can be necessary to implement price signals which overcome problems of asymmetric information in the introductory phase of a new durable product. The...