Endogenous Local Interaction and Multi-Product Firms
Abstract
Multi-product firms are modeled as endogenously locally interacting entities that gather information on the profitability of product combinations in an environment defined in terms of their currently supplied markets. They learn from their own past play. Local information gathering leads to a greater product diversity relative to global gathering. the introduction of more information at the outset and of finer learning mechanisms leads to ore instability. Cycles show parts of the economy that are in rest, while others are in a state of flux.