Essays on the economics of electronic commerce

This research explores three frontier issues in electronic commerce using economics methods. First, we study bundling of large number of digital goods as a method for price discrimination. We show that prior literature has not properly considered the case where discounting effect exists, and give out examples where bundling is not the optimal choice for a seller. Second, we analyze the impact of resale on advance selling of single-time consumption goods. We point out that a resale market is often divisible, and a seller can often selectively allow or preclude part of the resale market. It turns out that partially allowing/precluding resale activities are sometimes beneficial to both sellers and buyers. Third, we propose a new market mechanism, Capacity Provision Networks, for Web caching trading. We then demonstrate the practical business viability of a cooperative CPN market.