Essays on empirical industrial organization

This dissertation studies platform markets in which a durable device interacts with consumable or content complements, asking how intellectual property policy, licensing choices, and product design shape adoption, pricing, welfare, and environmental outcomes. I develop empirically grounded demand–supply frameworks with indirect network effects, combine structural estimation with reduced-form designs, and recover supply primitives. Across industries, the evidence shows that opening platforms via royalty licensing can expand installed bases and raise long-run surplus; reusable product design can meaningfully displace disposable usage and reduce externalities with limited loss in consumer value; and the composition—especially exclusivity and quality—of complements matters at least as much as sheer variety for hardware adoption. The results integrate environmental accounting into Industrial Organization (IO) analysis of platforms and offer guidance for researchers, managers and policymakers on licensing, content strategy, and support for reusable products.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Economics

Grantor

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2025

Author dc:creator

• Chen, Youning

Contributors dc:contributor

• Hong, Seung-Hyun
• Lemus, Jorge
• Dall'Erba, Sandy
• Deltas, George

• Industrial Organization
• Platform
• Network Effects
• Patent
• Licensing
• Reusable Products
• Emvironmental Impacts
• Video Game

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2025 Youning Chen

Language dc:language

en

Handle dc:identifier

https://hdl.handle.net/2142/132643

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/132643