Problem 1: Identify three product or service categories other than books, video, and music where the "Long Tail" appears to be an important factor online. For each of your examples. point out which of Anderson's causal factors seem to be important.
Problem 2: Brynjolfsson et. al.'s model of consumer surplus provides a quantitative measure of the value of the Long Tail. Outline a method, and the kind of data that you would want, in order to apply this model to one of your examples in part 1.
Problem 3: Still using the Brynjolfsson model, are there any scenarios where increasing the online product assortment might actually reduce surplus?
The Long Tail, Chris Anderson, (2006), “Ch. 1: The Long Tail,” pp. 15-26. “Ch. 3: A Short History of the Long Tail,” pp. 41-51, “Ch. 4: The Three Forces of the Long Tail,” pp. 52-57.
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