Wilson, WesleyWood, Nicholas2019-09-182019-09-182019-09-18https://hdl.handle.net/1794/24865I investigate the effect to which consumer heterogeneity impacts varying markets. I find that it has a substantial effect all the markets that I consider. In the US automobile industry, we model demand for the durable goods using a dynamic model. We expand upon the current literature by allow households the flexibility to select between different classes of vehicles. In further analysis, I develop a method to incorporate microlevel data into the analysis of the automobile industry. I show that, with this approach, national policy can be targeted at specific groups and regions of the populous. For policies considering the automobile industry, I consider the Cars Allowance Rebate System to evaluate policy effects. Finally, I consider the boom of the U.S. smartphone industry. Using a random coefficients estimator, I find that ignoring consumer specific effects would cause the researcher to drastically misestimate gains, and therefor implement poor policy, in the industry.en-USAll Rights Reserved.Cash for ClunkersCellphonesConsumer Expenditure SurveyMachine LearningStructural ModelingVertical Product DifferentiationElectronic Thesis or Dissertation