We analyze the sustainability of a conversation when one agent might be endowed with a piece of private information that affects the payoff distribution to its benefit. Such a secret can compromise the sustainability of conversation. Even without an obligation, the secret holder will disclose...

If entry requires accommodation by retailers, the incumbent manufacturer may transfer profits to retailers to maintain his dominant position (Asker and Bar-Isaac 2014). This paper shows that such an incentive to transfer will induce the high quality entrants to disclose the quality of their...

This paper analyzes how data-driven vertical integration between a platform and one downstream seller affects market outcomes in a two-sided market where sellers with asymmetric targeting skills target advertisements to individuals who have varying privacy concerns. I show that data-driven...

In direct competition between national brands of consumer packaged goods (CPG), one brand often has a large local share advantage over the other despite that the products are similar. I present an explanation for these large and persistent advantages in the context of local competition on...

I consider a Vickrey-Salop model of spatial product differentiation with quasi-linear utility functions and contrast two modes of production, the proprietary model where entrepreneurs sell software to the users, and the open source model where users participate in software development. I show...

Where product innovation requires several complementary patents, fragmented property rights can be a factor that limits firms' willingness to invest in the development and commercialization of new products. This paper studies multiple simultaneous R&D contests for complementary patents and how...