Telemonitoring devices can be used to screen consumers' characteristics and mitigate information asymmetries that lead to adverse selection in insurance markets. However, some consumers value their privacy and dislike sharing private information with insurers. In the second-best efficient...

I study the welfare and price implications of consumer privacy. A consumer discloses information to a multi-product seller, which learns about the consumer's preferences, sets prices, and makes product recommendations. While the consumer benefits from accurate product recommendations, the seller...

I study a dynamic model of consumer privacy and platform data collection. In each period, consumers choose their level of platform activity. Greater activity generates more information about the consumer, thereby increasing platform profits. When the platform can commit to the future privacy...

We develop a theory that explains how and when privacy can increase welfare. Without privacy, some individuals misrepresent their preferences, because they will otherwise be statistically discriminated against. This "chilling effect" hurts them individually, and impairs information aggregation....

This paper examines the many competing policy issues surrounding the development of the smart grid, including supporting technological innovation and protecting consumer privacy. The paper uses potential privacy-protection regulation as a lens through which to envision smart grid development, as...

Advances in data collection and algorithms help advertisers to better target individual consumers by predicting each consumer's preferences. We first show that when consumers have uncertainties about their preferences, an ad targeted to a consumer carries an implicit message: the algorithm...

I analyze a dynamic model of concurrent bargaining in which multiple long-lived prospective buyers compete to trade with a long-lived seller over two periods. The paper investigates how offer confidentiality and buyer participation affect bargaining dynamics within this framework. When buyers’...

US law has remarkably little to say about mass surveillance in public, a failure which has allowed the surveillance to grow at an alarming rate -- a rate that is only set to increase. This article proposes 'Privacy Impact Notices' (PINS) -- modeled on Environmental Impact Statements -- as an...

In spite of the widespread concerns expressed about the importance of privacy, individuals frequently give away or sell a myriad of personal data. How and why people decide to transition their information from the private to the public sphere is poorly understood. To address this puzzle, we...

In spite of the widespread concerns expressed about the importance of privacy, individuals frequently give away or sell a myriad of personal data. How and why people decide to transition their information from the private to the public sphere is poorly understood. To address this puzzle, we...