This paper examines four million daily price observations for more than 1,000 consumer electronics products on the price comparison site <externallink id="http://Shopper.com" type="url">http://Shopper.com</externallink>. We find little support for the notion that prices on the Internet are converging to the 'law of one price.' In addition, observed levels of...

In the presence of competing interest groups, this paper examines how the form of votebuying contracts affects policy outcomes. We study contracts contingent upon individual votes, policy outcomes, and/or vote shares. Voters either care about their individual votes, or about the policy outcome....

When viewed as taxes, lotteries are routinely criticized as being both inequitable and inefficient. But is this an entirely fair comparison? Frequently lotteries are used in lieu of voluntary contributions by private charities and governments when taxes are not feasible. When heterogeneous...

We anlayze Varian's (1980) Model of Sales, and show that when the number of uninformed consumers increases, prices become less competitive for all consumers. Thus, the influx of uninformed consumers generates a negative externality increasing the prices paid by informed consumers.

We model an environment where e-retailers sell similar products and endogenously engage in both brand advertising (to create loyal customers) and price advertising (to attract "shoppers"). In contrast to models where loyalty is exogenous, endogenizing the creation of loyal customers by allowing...

Increasingly, lobbying groups are subject to transparency requirements, obliging them to provide detailed information about their business. We study the effect this transparency policy has on the nature of lobbying competition. Under mild conditions, mandated transparency leads to an increase in...

We report the results of laboratory experiments on rent-seeking contests with endogenous participation. Theory predicts that (a) contest entry and rent-seeking expenditures increase with the size of the prize and (b) earnings are equalized between the contest and the outside option. While the...