In the face of demand uncertainty, a monopolist can observe sales as a controlled reaction to its price and advertising so as to improve the choice of this marketing mix in the future. Furthermore, to upgrade its knowledge about demand the firm has the option to invest in external market...

This paper provides expressions for solutions of a one-dimensional global optimization problem using an adjoint variable which represents the available one-sided improvements up to the interval “horizon.” Interpreting the problem in terms of optimal stopping or optimal starting, the solution...

The emerging sharing economy is fueled by products that some consumers buy new. This paper introduces an overlapping-generations model to analyze consumers' consumption choices and the equilibrium in the sharing market. We derive a retailer's optimal pricing strategy and determine the payoff...

The sharing of durable goods in a dynamic ownership economy is attractive, since it has the potential to realize gains from trade via short-term transfers of usage rights. We develop a model in which a set of agents, who are heterogeneous in their likely need of a durable good, make purchase...

Electronic intermediaries have become pervasive in sales transactions for many durables, such as cars, power tools, and apartments. Yet only recently have they successfully tackled the challenge of enabling parties to share such goods. A key impediment to sharing is a lender's concern about...

We examine a generic three-stage game for two players with alternating moves, where the first player can choose the level of adjustment cost to be paid in the last period for modifying the action she announced in the first period. In the resulting continuum of commitment options, convexifying...

This paper considers inter-mediation in a differentiated short-term housing market where heterogeneous agents may stay at a hotel or at one of several private hosts' properties, below or above hotel quality. The collaborative-housing market fails when agents' hidden actions are non-contractable....

The internal rate of return (IRR) is generally considered inferior to the net present value (NPV) as a tool for evaluating and ranking projects, despite its inherently useful comparability to the cost of capital and the return of other investment opportunities. We introduce the "selective IRR,"...

We provide a technique for constructing optimal multiattribute screening contracts in a general setting with one-dimensional types based on necessary optimality conditions. Our approach allows for type-dependent participation constraints and arbitrary risk profiles. As an example we discuss...