This paper provides an explanation for why the sunk cost bias persists among firms in a competitive environment in which rich learning possibilities are allowed. We envision firms that experiment with cost methodologies that are consistent with real-world accounting practices, including ones...

We demonstrate that demand uncertainty alone can lead to equilibrium product variety. We consider a simple environment in which when demand is certain, a social planner, a competitive market, and a monopolist would all offer a single product, but when demand is uncertain, a social planner, a...

This paper presents a model of an imperfect information coordination game which has multiple equilibria if the incentive of players to choose the same action is strong enough. It shows how the existence of multiple equilibria in the model and in data from multiple independent repetitions of the...

In an important paper, Aghion and Bolton (1987) argue that a buyer and a seller may agree on high liquidation damages in order to extract rents from future suppliers. As this may distort future trade, it may be socially wasteful. We argue that Aghion and Bolton's' analysis is incomplete in some...

This paper considers a simple model where a firm must make sunk investments in long-lived assets in order to produce output, there are constant returns to scale within each period, and the replacement cost of assets is weakly falling over time. It is shown that, so long as demand is weakly...

We analyze a model of a quality-constrained monopolist's product line decision that encompasses a variety of important examples of second-degree price discrimination, including intertemporal price discrimination, coupons, advance purchase discounts, versioning of information goods, and damaged...

In the bilateral hold-up model and the moral hazard in teams model, introducing a third party allows implementation of the first-best outcome, even if the agents can renegotiate inefficient outcomes and collude. Fines paid to the third party provide incentives for truth-telling and first-best...

Sequential contracting with multiple employers is a common feature of modern labor markets. Employment relations often terminate due to raids. When a worker is raided, the initial employer may enjoy an informational advantage over the raiders, as she is likely to have better information on the...

This paper considers a simple model where a firm must make sunk investments in long-lived assets in order to produce output, there are constant returns to scale within each period, and the replacement cost of assets is weakly falling over time. It is shown that, so long as demand is weakly...

We demonstrate that demand uncertainty alone can lead to equilibrium product variety. We consider a simple environment in which when demand is certain, a social planner, a competitive market, and a monopolist would all offer a single product, but when demand is uncertain, a social planner, a...