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Disclosing Multiple Product Attributes
Author(s) -
Sun Monic
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
journal of economics and management strategy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.672
H-Index - 68
eISSN - 1530-9134
pISSN - 1058-6407
DOI - 10.1111/j.1530-9134.2010.00287.x
Subject(s) - product (mathematics) , quality (philosophy) , incentive , business , microeconomics , vertical restraints , industrial organization , marketing , economics , mathematics , philosophy , geometry , epistemology
How do multiple attributes of a product jointly determine a seller's disclosure incentives? I model a monopolist whose product is characterized by vertical quality and a horizontal attribute. Contrary to the unraveling theory, the monopolist in equilibrium does not always choose disclosure. When the product's quality is common knowledge, a monopolist with higher quality is less likely to disclose the horizontal attribute. Notably, the monopolist may choose nondisclosure when his product has the highest quality. The results shed light on governments' mandatory disclosure policies and companies' marketing strategies.