Is the reputation of a firm tradeable when the previous owner has to retire even though ownership change is observable? We consider a competitive market in which a share of owners must retire in each period. New owners, observing only recent profits, bid for the firms on sale. Customers are...

Is the reputation of a firm tradeable when the previous owner has toretire even though ownership change is observable? The authors of this paper consider a competitive market in which a share of owners must retire in each period. New owners, observing only recent profits, bid for the firms...

Evidence on behavior of experts in credence goods markets raises an important causality issue: Do "fair prices" induce "good behavior", or do "good experts" post "fair prices"? To answer this question we propose and test a model with three seller types: "the good" choose fair prices and behave...

This article examines the daily strategizing of buyers, taking the dyad to be the elementary unit of analysis in market dynamics. The ideas are revisited that dyadic market relationships converge towards loyalty (Kirman and Vriend), and that markets tend towards social or institutional...

The work of Friedrich Von Hayek contains several testable predictions about the nature of market processes. Vernon Smith termed the most important one the 'Hayek Hypothesis': equilibrium prices and the gains from trade can be achieved in the presence of diffuse, decentralized information, and in...

What is the best way to reward innovation? While prizes avoid deadweight loss, intellectual property selects high social surplus projects. Optimal innovation policy thus trades off the ex-ante screening benefit and the ex-post distortion. It solves a multidimensional screening problem in the...

Holdout problems prevent decentralized aggregation of complementary goods, but the coercion required to overcome holdout may encourage abuse and violate fairness standards. We propose second-best efficiency, abuse-prevention, and fairness criteria for procedures intended to reduce holdout. Our...

We develop an equilibrium model for residential housing transactions in an economy with houses that differ in their quality and households that differ in their planned holding horizon. We show that, in equilibrium, clientele effect persists, with long-horizon buyers overwhelmingly choosing...

Provides an analysis of disclosures in fiscal years 2009 and 2010 by the 20 wealthiest private colleges in Massachusetts of their business relationships with firms affiliated with trustees. The study identifies widespread errors and omissions in reporting that raise questions about the quality...

Evidence on behavior of experts in credence goods markets raises an important causality issue: Do "fair prices" induce "good behavior", or do "good experts" post "fair prices"? To answer this question we propose and test a model with three seller types: "the good" choose fair prices and behave...