We study how market structures, along with asymmetries in learning technologies, affect trade in a product market. In this market, a new product of unknown quality is introduced to challenge a pre-existing product of known quality. We show that market efficiency (the first-best) is achieved both...

Under perfect competition on the output market, first best technology subsidies in the presence of learning by doing are justified by knowledge spill overs that are not accounted for by individual companies. First best output subsidies are thus depending directly on the learning effects and are,...

Markets undergoing fast-paced product evolution impose a significant informational demand on consumers. They may have to decide among relatively heterogeneous offers while lacking the knowledge required for a fully assessed choice of suppliers. In this case, one important information source is...

We study the pricing decision of firms in the presence of consumer inertia. Inertia can arise from habit formation, brand loyalty, switching costs, or search, and it has important implications for the interpretation of equilibrium outcomes and counterfactual analysis. In particular, consumer...