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Price dispersion in stationary networked markets

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  • Talamàs, Eduard

Abstract

Different sellers often sell the same good at different prices. Using a strategic bargaining model, I characterize how the equilibrium prices of a good depend on the interaction between its sellers' costs, its buyers' values, and a network capturing various frictions associated with trading it. In contrast to the standard random-matching model of bargaining in stationary markets, I allow agents to strategically choose whom to make offers to, which qualitatively changes how the network shapes prices. As in the random-matching model, the market decomposes into different submarkets, and—in the limit as bargaining frictions vanish—the law of one price holds within but not across them. But strategic choice of partners changes both how the market decomposes into different submarkets and the determinants of each submarket's price.

Suggested Citation

  • Talamàs, Eduard, 2019. "Price dispersion in stationary networked markets," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 115(C), pages 247-264.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:gamebe:v:115:y:2019:i:c:p:247-264
    DOI: 10.1016/j.geb.2019.03.005
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Price dispersion; Non-cooperative bargaining; Trading frictions; Networked markets; Stationary markets; Strategic choice of partners;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C78 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Game Theory and Bargaining Theory - - - Bargaining Theory; Matching Theory
    • D43 - Microeconomics - - Market Structure, Pricing, and Design - - - Oligopoly and Other Forms of Market Imperfection
    • D85 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Network Formation

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