Consider a buyer who, in the upcoming month, will make a decision about whether to purchase a good from a
The buyer’s payoff (
a) What are the Nash equilibrium strategies for the buyer and seller in this game under the assumption that it is played just once?
b) Let’s again suppose that the game is played just once (i.e., the buyer makes at most one purchase). But suppose that before the game is played, the seller can commit to offering a warranty that gives the buyer a monetary payment W in the event that he buys the product and is unhappy with the product he purchases. What is the smallest value of W such that the seller chooses to offer a high-quality product and the buyer chooses to purchase?
c) Instead of the warranty, let’s now allow for the possibility of repeat purchases by the buyer. In particular, suppose
that if the buyer purchases the product and learns that he has bought a high-quality good, he will return the next month and buy again. Indeed, he will continue to purchase, month after month (potentially forever!), as long as the quality of the product he purchased in the previous month is high. However, if the buyer is ever unpleasantly surprised—that is, if the seller sells him a low-quality good in a particular month—he will refuse to purchase from the seller forever after. Suppose that the seller knows that the buyer is going to behave in this fashion. Further, let’s imagine that the seller evaluates profits in the following way: a stream of payoffs of $1 starting next month and received in every month thereafter has exactly the same value as a one-time payoff of $50 received immediately this month. Will the seller offer a low-quality good or a high-quality good
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