We develop a method allowing us to reconstruct individual tastes of customers from a sparsely connected network of their opinions on products, services, or each other. Two distinct phase transitions occur as the density of edges in this network is increased: Above the first, macroscopic prediction of tastes becomes possible; while above the second, all unknown opinions can be uniquely reconstru...

In recent years, the popularity of online radio has exploded. This new entertainment medium affords an opportunity not available to conventional broadcast radio: the instantaneous listening audience can be known, or what is more important, the musical tastes of the current listening audience can be known. Thus, it is possible in the new medium to tailor the playlist in real-time to the musical ...

Choices in music express our taste and personality. Different people have different collections of favorite songs. The explosive growth of digital media makes it easier to access any songs we want. Consequently, finding the songs best fit to our tastes becomes more challenging. Existing solutions record user patterns of listening to music, then make recommendation lists for users. By applying i...

If one accepts some paternalistic objectives, how should this shape policy? This paper addresses this issue by considering the trade-off that results when agents have superior information regarding their own situation and tastes but a paternalistic principal views agents’ tastes as as being biased. Applications include: savings behavior by hyperbolic discounting consumers, schooling choice by t...

A principal contracts with agents who have diverse abilities to forecast changes in their future tastes. While the principal knows that the agent’s tastes are changing, the agent believes that with probability θ, his future preferences will be identical to his present preferences. The principal does not observe θ, but he knows the probability distribution from which it is drawn. Thus, the agent...

In recent years, the popularity of online radio has exploded. This new entertainment medium affords an opportunity not available to conventional broadcast radio: the instantaneous listening audience can be known, or what is more important, the musical tastes of the current listening audience can be known. Thus, it is possible in the new medium to tailor the playlist in real-time to the musical ...