back to Consortium Fellows>>
David Richardson
University of Texas, Dallas
 |
I am a third-year Marketing student at the University of Texas at Dallas. My research explores the interplay of institutions and information in determining market structure. My approach is primarily analytical and reflects previous training as a graduate student in economics at Northwestern (with a focus on Industrial Organization and decision theory). I am particularly interested in the role of complexity in shaping behavior.
For example, luxury and fashion goods manufacturers rely on retailers to allow consumers to assess fit (size and style) of their products, attributes that are personal to a specific consumer and therefore difficult to convey digitally. Internet sales can intensify intrabrand competition so that retailers find it no longer profitable to support the product. However, counterfeit goods create uncertainty about grey market products, moderating inter-channel competition and potentially restoring the original market or even creating profitable market segmentation.
In the residential real estate market, sellers' uncertainty about the value of their homes leads to a high initial offering price, which is gradually decreased. The rate of decrease and the lowest acceptable price then depend on information about the depth of the market which is not generally available to individual buyers and sellers. Real estate agents therefore play an essential role in coordinating the market.
I am currently developing a dynamic model of pricing and promotion of consumer durables with endogenous replacement and breakage, which I hope to use to analyze a variety of issues from coop advertising to product innovation.