Many models in operations management assume that faced with excess inventory, retailers offer price discounts to increase sales. This discount is assumed to be a certain dollar amount per unit or a certain percent of the regular price. However, many retailers use nonlinear pricing, e.g. "Buy...

Private consumption in the U.S. has recovered swiftly from the pandemic trough and has been running above the pre-pandemic trend even as interest rates rose sharply. This paper examines the underlying drivers for this strong growth in consumption. Using both state- and household-level data, we...