Mechanisms where sellers set the price and are charged a linear commission fee are widely used by real world intermediaries, e.g. by real estate brokers. Empirically these commission fees exhibit very little variance, both across heterogeneous regional markets and over time. So far, there is no...

This paper analyzes panic purchases of goods during crises such as a pandemic. Our two-period model incorporates uncertainty about sellers' capacity and about buyers' need for the good. Even if sellers have enough capacity to satisfy demand, there may be shortages because consumers panic...