TY  - JOUR
AU  - Nevo,Aviv
TI  - A Research Assistant's Guide to Random Coefficients Discrete Choice Models of Demand
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Technical Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 221
PY  - 1998
Y2  - February 1998
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/t0221
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/t0221.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Aviv Nevo
Department of Economics
Northwestern University
2001 Sheridan Road
Evanston, IL 60208-2600
Tel: 847/491-8212
Fax: 847/491-7001
E-Mail: nevo@northwestern.edu
AB  - The study of differentiated-products markets is a central part of empirical industrial organization.  Questions regarding market power, mergers, innovation, and valuation of new brands are addressed using cutting-edge econometric methods and relying on economic theory.  Unfortunately, difficulty of use and computational costs have limited the scope of application of recent developments in one of the main methods for estimating demand for differentiated products: random coefficients discrete choice models.  As our understanding of these models of demand has increased, both the difficulty and costs have been greatly reduced.  This paper carefully discusses the latest innovations in these methods with the hope of (1) increasing the understanding, and therefore the trust, among researchers who never used these methods, and (2) reducing the difficulty of use, and therefore aiding in realizing the full potential of these methods.
ER  -