Advanced Search
MyIDEAS: Login

Buyer Subsidies in an Equilibrium Model of Price Dispersion

Contents:

Author Info

  • Henrik Orzen
  • Martin Sefton

Abstract

We present a model of equilibrium price dispersion in which a per-unit subsidy to buyers can reduce average prices. The reason is that subsidies have two effects on average prices that work in opposite directions. First, subsidies raise buyers' willingness-to-pay, and by itself this causes firms to charge higher prices. However, since a higher willingness-to-pay lowers the relative cost of search, subsidies also induce more search. This creates a second effect that puts pressure on firms to reduce prices. We show that the second effect can dominate, thus causing an overall reduction in average price. Copyright Verein für Socialpolitik and Blackwell Publishing Ltd 2003.

Download Info

If you experience problems downloading a file, check if you have the proper application to view it first. In case of further problems read the IDEAS help page. Note that these files are not on the IDEAS site. Please be patient as the files may be large.
File URL: http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/servlet/useragent?func=synergy&synergyAction=showTOC&journalCode=geer&volume=4&issue=&year=2003&part=null
File Function: link to full text
Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version under "Related research" (further below) or search for a different version of it.

Bibliographic Info

Article provided by Verein für Socialpolitik in its journal German Economic Review.

Volume (Year): 4 (2003)
Issue (Month): (November)
Pages: 497-501

as in new window
Handle: RePEc:bla:germec:v:4:y:2003:i::p:497-501

Contact details of provider:
Email:
Web page: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=1465-6485
More information through EDIRC

Order Information:
Web: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/subs.asp?ref=1465-6485

Related research

Keywords:

References

References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
as in new window
  1. Wilde, Louis L & Schwartz, Alan, 1979. "Equilibrium Comparison Shopping," Review of Economic Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 46(3), pages 543-53, July.
  2. Ekkehard Kessner & Mattias K. Polborn, 2000. "A New Test of Price Dispersion," German Economic Review, Verein für Socialpolitik, vol. 1(2), pages 221-240, 05.
  3. Dennis C. Mueller & B. Burcin Yurtoglu, 2000. "Country Legal Environments and Corporate Investment Performance," German Economic Review, Verein für Socialpolitik, vol. 1(2), pages 187-220, 05.
  4. Wilde, Louis L, 1992. "Comparison Shopping as a Simultaneous Move Game," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 102(412), pages 562-69, May.
  5. Butters, Gerard R, 1977. "Equilibrium Distributions of Sales and Advertising Prices," Review of Economic Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 44(3), pages 465-91, October.
Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

Citations

Lists

This item is not listed on Wikipedia, on a reading list or among the top items on IDEAS.

Statistics

Access and download statistics

Corrections

When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:germec:v:4:y:2003:i::p:497-501

For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: (Wiley-Blackwell Digital Licensing) or (Christopher F. Baum).

If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

If references are entirely missing, you can add them using this form.

If the full references list an item that is present in RePEc, but the system did not link to it, you can help with this form.

If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.