type="main" <p>We analyze adverse selection in the used-car market using a new approach that considers a car as an assemblage of parts, some with symmetric information and others with asymmetric information. Using data from the Consumer Expenditure Survey and Consumer Reports, we examine turnover...</p>

This article develops a theory concerning the choice between standard promotion practices and up-or-out contracts. Our theory is based on asymmetric learning and promotion incentives. We find that firms employ up-or-out contracts when firm-specific human capital is low and standard promotion...

A number of authors have recently considered whether the free rider problem is exhibited in models characterized by multiple potential entrants/sequential entry. Bernheim (1984) and Eaton and Ware (1987) find that the free rider problem is not an important factor, while McLean and Riordan (1989)...

In his seminal article of 1970, Akerlof argued that the used-car market is not efficient because adverse selection causes too little trade. We construct a competitive model of the new- and used-car markets and investigate the relationship between new-car leasing and adverse selection. Our...

This article investigates how the tying of complementary products can be used to preserve and create monopoly positions. We first show how a monopolist of a product in the current period can use tying to preserve its monopoly in the future. We then show how a monopolist in one market can employ...

By investing in R&D, a durable-goods monopolist can improve the quality of what it will sell in the future, and in this way reduce the future value of current and past units of output. This article shows that if the firm sells its output, then it faces a time inconsistency problem; i.e., the R&D...

This article analyzes a model in which information about a worker's ability is only directly revealed to the firm employing the worker; other firms, however, use the worker's job assignment as a signal of ability. Three results recur throughout the analysis. First, wage rates tend to be more...