The study of differentiated-products markets is a central part of empirical industrial organization. Questions regarding market power, mergers, innovation, and valuation of new brands are addressed using cutting-edge econometric methods and relying on economic theory. Unfortunately, difficulty...

The ready-to-eat cereal industry is characterized by high concentration margins, large advertising to sales ratios, and numerous introductions of new products. Previous researchers have concluded that the ready-to-eat cereal industry is a classic example of an industry with nearly collusive...

Models of consumer behavior play a key role in modern empirical Industrial Organization. In this paper, I survey some of the models used in this literature. In particular, I discuss two commonly used demand systems: multi-stage budgeting approaches and discrete choice models. I motivate their...

An undesirable feature of Akerlof style models of adverse selection is that ownership of" used cars is independent of preferences and is therefore ad hoc. We present a dynamic model" that incorporates the market for new goods. Consumers self-select into buying new or used" goods making ownership...

This paper develops a multiple-discrete choice model for the analysis of demand of differentiated products. Users maximize profits by choosing the number of units of each brand they purchase. Multiple-unit as well as multiple-brand purchases are allowed. These two features distinguish this model...

Leasing contracts are extensively used in durable goods markets. These contracts specify a rental rate and an option price at which the used good can be bought on termination of the lease. This option price cannot be controlled when the car is sold. We show that in a world in which quality is...

This paper studies regulated health insurance markets known as exchanges, motivated by their inclusion in the Affordable Care Act (ACA). We use detailed health plan choice and utilization data to model individual-level projected health risk and risk preferences. We combine the estimated joint...

We document the evolution of productivity in a steel mini mill with fixed capital, producing an unchanged product with Leontief technology working 24/7. Despite?almost?unchanged production conditions, output doubled within the sample period (12 years). We decompose the gains into downtime...

This paper develops a model of nonlinear pricing of storable goods. We show that storability imposes novel constraints on a monopolist's ability to extract surplus. We then show that the attempt to relax these constraints can generate cyclical patterns in pricing and sales, even when consumers...