Doctoral Dissertation Research in Economics: The Social Dimension of Quality

为什么消费者愿意支付更多的品牌产品相比，非品牌产品，即使两者有相同的属性。 这个经济学博士论文研究（DDRIE）研究项目将利用经济理论和实验方法来研究产品价值的社交网络来源。 研究人员认为，人们为一种产品支付更多的钱是为了表明自己的声望，或者是因为他们崇拜的人会消费这种产品。 研究人员将收集一些进口和国产消费品的数据来验证这一理论。 这种产品价值社会学习方法的结果具有重要的政策意义：它可以帮助企业在国内外营销其产品。 其次，通过帮助从社会学习来源中分离出社会互动价值来源，它为生产者有效地确定产品目标提供了指导。 因此，这项研究的结果有助于经济增长，增加就业，改善美国人的福祉。 这个项目使用一个实验游戏来研究社会互动如何影响消费者对他们购买的商品价值的感知。 该提案基于社会网络信号和社会学习开发了一个依赖于网络的产品质量定义，并开发了一个模型来解释这种社会信号值的确定。 主要的假设是，对产品的需求部分取决于消费者的愿望，信号状态或因为产品是由有抱负的同行消费。 然后，研究人员将使用调查和实验方法在一组商品上测试这一假设。 这一创新性DDRIE的结果为IO、发展经济学和贸易文献做出了重大贡献，并为研究人员在建模需求时认真考虑社会信号传递指明了方向。 该项目的结果将有助于研究人员区分社会学习与共享效用和社会信号。 该研究项目的结果对消费者和生产者都具有政策意义。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Why do consumers willingly pay more for brand name products compared to non-branded products even though the two have the same attributes. This doctoral dissertation research in economics (DDRIE) research project will use economic theory and experimental methods to investigate the social network source of value for a product. The researchers argue that people pay more for a product to signal prestige or because people they look up to consume that product. The researchers will collect data on a number imported and domestically produced consumer goods to test this theory. The results of this social learning approach to product value has important policy implications: it could help businesses to market their products both domestically and abroad. Second, by helping to disentangle social interaction sources of value from the social learning source, it provides a guide to producers in targeting their products effectively. The results of this research therefore contributes to economic growth, increased employment, and improves the wellbeing of Americans. This project uses an experimental game to study how social interactions affect consumers’ perception of the value of goods they buy. The proposal develops an endogenous network-dependent definition of product quality based on social network signaling and social learning and develops a model to explain this social signaling value determination. The main hypothesis is that the demand for a product is partly determined by the consumer’s desire to signal status or because the product is consumed by aspirational peers. The researchers will then use both survey and experimental methods to test this hypothesis on a set of goods. The results of this innovative DDRIE make significant contributions to the IO, development economics, and trade literatures as well as point the way for researchers to seriously consider social signaling when modeling the demand. The result of the project will help researchers distinguish social leaning from shared utility and social signaling. The results of this research project has policy implications for both consumers and producers.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.