Yating Yuan

Associate Tutor

Hi! I am a third year PhD student (5th year in the program) at the Department of Economics, University of Warwick. Here is my personal website.

My supervisors are Motty Perry and Jacob Glazer.

I'm interested in

• Microeconomic theory
• Social learning
• Information disclosure

Research

Versioning with observational learning

The rise of popular online platforms, e.g. Kickstarter, has made observational learning a widespread phenomenon in various marketplaces. It is not uncommon in these markets for sellers to launch a new product with different versions. Yet we do not have a theoretical model to analyze the seller's pricing and versioning incentive in such markets as well as the impact on information aggregation. This paper explores how observational learning alone can incentivize a monopolist to sell different versions. The dynamic learning process sheds new light on the multi-version policy beyond traditional explanations. Furthermore, the quality of consumers’ private information plays a crucial role in shaping two distinct selling strategies. In a market with noisy private signals, the seller provides a single cheap premium version; with precise signals, the seller prefers multiple versions.