But more information is not always better. Studies show that shoppers overwhelmed by choice may simply walk away. Mr Tadelis tested whether it would be better to tailor eBay's auctions to users' experience level. The options for new users were narrowed, by removing sellers who are more difficult to assess (for example those who had less-than-perfect feedback on things like shipping times). When new users had a simpler list of sellers to choose from, the number of successful auctions rose and buyers were more likely to use eBay again. Tailoring the market meant gains for buyers, sellers and eBay.
但是更多的信息并不总是带来更好的结果。研究表明，过多的选择性可能会让购物者放弃购买。塔德里斯通过试验来检验将易趣的拍卖信息调整到适应用户的经验水平是否会带来更好的结果。试验去除那些难以评估的卖家(比如反馈信息中发货时间之类的信息不够完整)，这样一来，新用户的可选择性就减少了。当新用户可选择的卖家列表简化后，成功拍卖的几率上升，购买者也更倾向于再次使用易趣购物。这种定制卖场意味着买家、卖家及易趣三方都能获利。
The desire to use theory to challenge conventional thinking is one reason economists are valuable to firms, says Susan Athey, of Stanford University and Microsoft. When Ms Athey arrived at the software giant in 2007 it faced what was seen as an unavoidable trade-off: online advertising was good for revenues, but too much would deter users. If advertisers gained, users would lose. But economic theory challenges this, showing that if firms are dealing with two groups (advertisers and users, say), making one better off often benefits the other too.
Ms Athey and Microsoft's computer scientists put that theory to work. One idea was to toughen the algorithm that determines whether an ad is shown. This means ads are displayed fewer times, so advertisers lose out in the short-term. But in the longer run, other forces come into play. More relevant ads improve the user experience, so user numbers rise. And better-targeted ads mean more users click on the advert, even if it is shown less often. Empirical evidence showed that although advertisers would respond only after some time, the eventual gain was worth the wait. Microsoft made the change.
在斯坦福大学和微软工作的苏珊·阿塞认为，经济学家对于公司具有重要价值的原因之一在于他们怀有以理论挑战常规思维的愿望。2007年阿塞女士初到微软之时面临着一个无法回避的两难选择：在线广告有利于提高收益，而过多的广告又使用户数量减少。广告商获利就会使用户受损。但是，经济理论挑战这种利此损彼的逻辑：如果网络服务企业要面对两组客户（如广告商和用户），一组客户获利的同时也可以使另一组客户受益。
阿塞女士和微软的计算机技术人员将这个理论运用到实际工作。一种理论是强化计算机运算，由其决定如何投放广告。这意味着广告呈现的次数减少，短期内广告商会遭受损失。但从长远来看，其他的一些因素将发挥作用。更多有关联性的广告改善了用户体验，从而增加了用户数量。此外，即便广告呈现频率降低，更有针对性的广告也会使总点击率上升。实验数据表明，尽管广告商做出反应需要一段时间，但就最终收益来说，等待还是值得的。微软公司就做出了改变。
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