Classic models of reputation consider an agent taking costly actions to affect a single, homogeneous audience’s beliefs about his ability, preferences or other characteristic. However, in many economic settings, agents must maintain a reputation with multiple parties with diverse interests. In...

Can firm names be tradeable assets when changes in name ownership are observable? Earlier literature suggests that non-observability is critical to sustaining name trading. Yet, casual empiricism suggests that shifts in name ownership may be publicly known. This paper shows how firm names can be...

The propensity of consumers to engage in word-of-mouth (WOM) can differ after good versus bad experiences, resulting in positive or negative selection of user-generated reviews. We study how the propensity to engage in WOM depends on information available to customers through different marketing...