The use of a durable good is limited by both its physical life and usable life. For example, an electric-car battery can last for 5 years (physical life) or 100,000 miles (usable life), whichever comes first. We propose a framework for examining how a profit-maximizing firm might choose the...

When we think of colas, Coca-Cola first comes to mind. Products such as Cola-Cola, Tide laundry detergent, and Chapstick lip balm are the prototypical products in their respective categories. For more than three decades, research in consumer psychology has accumulated evidence on how...

We study a model in which a monopoly firm designs the quality profile of its inventory and then dynamically updates its pricing menu for a finite selling horizon to maximize revenue. In a counterfactual scenario, a social planner goes through the same process to maximize total welfare. We show...

We consider a joint assortment, inventory, and pricing problem of a retailer selling multiple vertically differentiated products of a single category. Consumers are heterogeneous in their willingness to pay for product quality. But the retailer only knows the distribution of consumer...

Customers' preference for the hedonic benefits (e.g., aesthetics) and utilitarian benefits (e.g., functionality) offered by a product varies depending on the context — buying versus selling, and choice versus willingness-to-pay. However, a customer's preference formation could involve brand...

I study a monopolistic pricing problem in which the consumer performs product research to determine whether or not to purchase a good. The consumer receives a signal of quality via a Brownian motion process with a type-dependent drift. I fully characterize the consumer's optimal strategy; she...

In many markets, firms make their products complex through add-ons, thus making them difficult to evaluate and compare. How does this product obfuscation affect competition, sellers’ profits, and buyers’ welfare? We study these questions in a competitive experimental market in which sellers...

In many markets, firms make their products complex through add-ons, thus making them difficult to evaluate and compare. How does this product obfuscation affect competition, sellers’ profits, and buyers’ welfare? We study these questions in a competitive experimental market in which sellers...