Download or read book Essays on Vertical Relationships and Ad Tone Effects written by Bowen Luo and published by . This book was released on 2021 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "In this thesis, I address two important topics in quantitative marketing: vertical relationships and ad tone effects. In the first essay, I study the impact of manufacturer-retailer relationships on the distribution of new products in the context of the U.S. hard cider market. Manufacturer-retailer relationships are often cited as an important determinant in product distribution. By coordinating the channel and aligning incentives, relationships can significantly affect both manufacturers' and retailers' profits and contribute to market concentration. However, empirical evidence is scarce because relationships are usually trade secrets. I present novel empirical evidence of mutual preferential treatments between manufacturers and retailers in assortment choices and wholesale pricing. I interpret the finding as pair-specific relationships sustained through repeated interactions, and use industry regulations on trade and wholesale pricing to address alternative mechanisms, including non-linear contracts. I estimate a structural model of consumer demand, retail and wholesale pricing, and assortment that incorporates the relationships. The results show that the relationships increase Anheuser-Busch InBev's and MillerCoors' new cider availability by 17.7% and 7.2%, respectively, and present a double win to both the manufacturers and retailers. In the second essay, we study the effects of positive and negative advertising in presidential elections. We develop a model to disentangle these effects on voter turnout and candidate choice. The central empirical challenges are highly correlated and endogenous advertising quantities that are measured with error. To address these challenges, we construct a large set of potential instruments, including interactions with incumbency that we demonstrate provide the critical identifying variation, and apply machine learning causal inference methods. Using data from the 2000 and 2004 U.S. presidential elections, we find that positive and negative ads play fundamentally different roles. Negative ads are more effective at driving relative candidate shares, whereas positive ads stimulate turnout. These results indicate that a candidate geographically targeting tone trades off local relative share gains and local increases in turnout for localities with a strong base. Counterfactual simulations indicate that ad tone alone can impact the outcome of close elections. Our analysis also provides potential explanations as to why past studies have produced mixed findings on both ad tone and turnout effects."--Pages vii-viii.