This paper discusses the economic impacts of the phase-out of the Multi-Fibre Arrangement (MFA), which was provided for under the 1994 Agreement on Textiles and Clothing (ATC). It presents an overview of the integration process of textile and clothing products into the GATT, takes stock of the...

In this note, we analyze the equilibrium outcomes of pricing games with product differentiation in relation with the extent of market coverage. It is a received idea in the IO literature that the horizontal and vertical models of product differentiation are almost formally equivalent. We show...

Earlier theoretical literature on mass customization maintains that customization reduces product differentiation and intensifies price competition. In contrast, operations management studies argue that customization serves primarily to differentiate a company from its competitors. Interactive...

This paper challenges the assumption commonly used in the theoretical literature on customization that consumers always get their ideal varieties when they purchase a customized product. I adopt Hotelling's horizontal diffierentiation model with two firms competing for a continuum of consumers....

When purchase and consumption decisions are separated in time and when future utility is state dependent, consumers may desire to pursue consumption flexibility by purchasing different products together (multiple buying). This paper analyzes the effects of consumption flexibility on competing...

This chapter offers a comprehensive survey of the economic analysis of advertising. A first objective is to organize the literature in a manner that clarifies what is known. A second objective is to clarify how this knowledge has been obtained. The chapter begins with a discussion of the key...

Switching costs and network effects bind customers to vendors if products are incompatible, locking customers or even markets in to early choices. Lock-in hinders customers from changing suppliers in response to (predictable or unpredictable) changes in efficiency, and gives vendors lucrative ex...