Retrospective Search: Exploration and Ambition on Uncharted Terrain
We study a model of retrospective search in which an agent—a researcher, an online shopper, or a politician—tracks the value of a product. Discoveries beget discoveries and their observations are correlated over time, which we model using a Brownian motion. The agent decides both how ambitiously, or broadly, to search, and for how long. We fully characterize the optimal search policy and show that it entails constant scope of search and a simple stopping boundary. We also show the special features that emerge from contracting with a retrospective searcher.

Please sign up for meetings here: docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1bH85x-6DkQqESblvVoH5mySYRE0o8-4IIGx7I46Z4cE/edit#gid=0
Date: 5 February 2021, 14:15 (Friday, 3rd week, Hilary 2021)
Venue: Held on Zoom
Speaker: Leeat Yariv (Princeton University)
Organising department: Department of Economics
Part of: Nuffield Economic Theory Seminar
Booking required?: Not required
Audience: Members of the University only
Editor: Melis Clark