讲座时间：2022年4月29日 9：00-10：30

讲座地点: 腾讯会议 512 947 792

主讲人：Brock Stoddard

讲座题目：When should firms promote learning?  An experimental study

讲座简介：In many strategic economic settings, first-movers make take-it-or-leave-it offers to second-movers. In some cases, second-movers do not know their true valuation of the offer when deciding whether to accept the offer. We are interested in situations where first-movers have the option to allow second-movers to (costlessly) gain information about their valuation before accepting offers. For instance, firms can offer product trials to potential customers before customers need to purchase the product. In our setting, first-movers do not learn second-movers valuation, even if information acquisition is allowed. Theoretically, when first-movers’ costs are high, first-movers allow second-movers to gain information. First-mover offers are then high, only targeting high valuation customers. However, when first-movers’ costs are low, they do not allow second-movers to gain information. First-movers’ offers are then at second-movers’ expected valuation. In further settings where the information gains are noisy, predictions are qualitatively similar, but with less variance across offers. We test these hypotheses in an experiment using subjects from two Chinese universities. Analysis of preliminary data supports theoretical predictions.

主讲人介绍：I received my undergraduate degree from Brigham Young University-Idaho and my PhD from Indiana University (USA). My primary research focus is using experimental economics to examine social dilemmas. I am an associate professor of economics at Appalachian State University (North Carolina, NC).