In this paper, we present a detailed description of intelligent software agents. We depict both search as well as negotiation agents and show how the use of theoretical concepts previously exclusive to the economic theory of bargaining and auctions can immensely improve their performance. We...

Recently, we have experienced an emergence of comparative "Internet Shopping Agents" (ISAs) that allow consumers to costlessly search across many online retailers and buy at the lowest price. An ISA can be thought of as an institution that creates all or nothing type of competition in the...

Consumerism arises when patients acquire and use medical information from sources apart from their physicians, such as the Internet and direct-to-patient advertising. Consumerism has been hailed as a means of improving quality. This need not be the result. Consumerist patients place additional...

Consumerism arises when patients acquire and use medical information from sources apart from their physicians, such as the Internet and direct-to-patient advertising. Consumerism has been hailed as a means of improving quality. This need not be the result. Consumerist patients place additional...

Consumerism arises when patients acquire and use medical information from sources other than their physicians. This practice has been hailed as a means of improving quality. This need not be the result. Our theoretical model identifies a channel through which consumerism may reduce quality:...