Firm Experimentation and Social Networks
Abstract

(Preliminary/Work in Progress) Firms may be uncertain as to the ʺoptimalʺ way to operate, so society can benefit from firms experimenting with different modes of operation. However, individual consumers might stop going to a business that gives them poor outcomes. Moreover, if an individual has heard through her social network about bad outcomes from a business, she might decline to ever try the firm. This paper considers this problem, looking at the ways in which the underlying social network influences firms’ incentives to experiment and which networks are socially optimal for experimentation.
Date: 23 May 2018, 17:00 (Wednesday, 5th week, Trinity 2018)
Venue: Nuffield College, New Road OX1 1NF
Venue Details: Brock Room
Speaker: Stephen Nei (University of Oxford)
Organising department: Department of Economics
Organisers: Anne Pouliquen (University of Oxford), Erin Saunders (University of Oxford)
Part of: Postdoctoral Fellows Seminar
Booking required?: Not required
Audience: Members of the University only
Editors: Erin Saunders, Anne Pouliquen, Melis Clark