I study several aspects of a game-theoretic model of persuasion. A speaker attempts to persuade a listener to take an action which is highly ranked by the speaker. The listener knows the speaker's preference but is uncertain about what the speaker can say. The listener can commit to a persuasion...
This thesis comprises three essays addressing theory and evidence on the household response to tax-favored saving incentive schemes, with a particular emphasis on household risk taking. The US tax code and related regulatory institutions offer a variety of incentives to encourage US households to save and participate in risky investment...
The ready-mix concrete industry is a fascinating laboratory for the study of industry dynamics. Concrete plants produce a single homogeneous product with technology and equipment that has changed little over the last 50 years. Building a plant entails substantial sunk costs since the machinery used to produce ready-mix cannot easily...
The first chapter investigates the offshoring decision from a network capacity investment perspective. We analyze a firm that manufactures two products to serve two geographically separated markets using a common component and two localized final assemblies. Two strategic network design questions arise naturally: (1) Should the common part be produced...
This study investigates the causes and welfare consequences of unravelling in two-sided matching markets. "Unravelling" arises when agents contract with one another at an early stage, before much of the relevant information is available. Such early matches may lead to ex-post inefficiencies and are perceived as socially harmful. This study...
This dissertation develops dynamic models to examine markets with product differentiation where both firm conduct and consumer behavior is jointly influenced by switching costs, network effects and technological innovation. In Chapter 1 I propose a structural model of competition where firms set prices, introduce new products and scrap obsolete models....
This dissertation explores price differences observed in the market. While some differences are necessitated by market conditions, the others are strategic. I illustrate the former in a study of electricity spot markets in Italy and the latter for the video rental industry.
The first project examines the welfare gains from...
In the first chapter of my dissertation, I study the effects of an exogenous increase in government spending in models incorporating price and wage nominal rigidities. I find that the effects of price stickiness on the output multiplier depend crucially on the behavior of the monetary authority. If the monetary...
The first chapter of this dissertation studies a continuous-time agency model where the agent controls the drift of the geometric Brownian motion firm size. The changing firm size generates partial incentives, analogous to awarding the agent equity shares according to her continuation payoff. When the agent is as patient as...