Can negative publicity ever increase consumer choice, and if so, when? Three studies, using a combination of econometric analysis and experimental methods, delineate contexts under which negative publicity will have positive versus negative effects. While prior research have shown only downsides...

This paper uses detailed weekly data on sales of hardcover fiction books to evaluate the impact of the New York Times bestseller list on sales and product variety. In order to circumvent the obvious problem of simultaneity of sales and bestseller status, the analysis exploits time lags and...

Innovations in information technology have increased the prevalence of markets with large numbers of products. Each week, for example, an average of over 800 books are published, and an average of over 1,100 iOS apps are released in Apple's App Store. This review summarizes existing research...