Chris Nosko studies industrial organization, applied microeconomics, and computational economics. His research focuses on technology markets. In one project, he uses the CPU market to study how imperfectly competitive firms make product line decisions and the relationship between these decisions and industry innovation. Nosko spent the 2011-2012 year working at eBay in their research labs. While there he pursued projects related to pricing in two-sided markets, measuring the effectiveness of paid search advertisements, and understanding repeat buyer purchase behavior.
Nosko earned his PhD in economics from Harvard University. An alumnus of the University of Chicago, he earned his AB in economics and history in 2003. Prior to pursuing graduate studies, Nosko worked at an economic consulting firm in Chicago and then at the National Bureau of Economic Research in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Selected Publications
With Julie Mortimer and Alan Sorensen,“Supply Responses to Digital Distribution: Recorded Music and Live Performances” Information Economics and Policy, Volume 24, Issue 1, Pages 3–14, March 2012 (and also NBER Working Paper #16507).
“Competition and Quality Choice in the CPU Market” (Working Paper).
New: Supply Responses to Digital Distribution: Recorded Music and Live Performances
Date Posted: Nov 07, 2010
Changes in technologies for reproducing and redistributing digital goods (e.g., music, movies, software, books) have dramatically affected profitability of these goods, and raised concerns for future development of socially valuable digital products. However, broader illegitimate distribution of digital goods may have offsetting demand implications for legitimate sales of complementary non-digital products. We examine the negative impact of file-sharing on recorded music sales and offsetting imp
Why Do Firms Bundle and Tie? Evidence from Competitive Markets and Implications for Tying Law
Date Posted: Oct 28, 2008
Tying the sale of products that could be sold separately is common in competitive markets - from left and right shoes, to the sports and living sections of daily newspapers, to cars and radios. This paper presents a cost-based theory for why tying occurs in competitive markets and uses this theory to examine bundling and tying in pain relievers and cold medicines, foreign electrical plug adapters, and mid-sized automobile sedans. It shows that product-specific scale economies are needed to under