IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bpj/bejeap/v16y2016i2p1093-1121n11.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Price Discrimination with Varying Qualities of Information

Author

Listed:
  • Liu Qihong

    (Department of Economics, University of Oklahoma, 308 Cate Center Drive, Norman, OK 73019, USA)

  • Shuai Jie

    (Wenlan School of Business, Zhongnan University of Economics and Law, 182 Nanhu Ave., East Lake High-tech Development Zone, Wuhan 430073, P.R. China)

Abstract

Advances in information technology have greatly enhanced firms’ ability to collect, market and utilize consumer information. As the market for consumer information expands rapidly, businesses are armed with unprecedented means to target any group of consumers they desire. This has important and far-reaching impacts on consumer welfare. In this paper we analyze the welfare impacts of price discrimination facilitated by increasing qualities of consumer information. We employ a two-dimensional spatial differentiation model where consumer information is available on one dimension, and better information leads to more refined price discrimination. We find that as information quality improves, equilibrium prices and profits monotonically increase while consumer surplus and social surplus monotonically decrease. Price discrimination has a reduced demand elasticity effect which becomes stronger when consumer information becomes more precise. Our results suggest that regulators need to pay more attention to the potential damage to consumer welfare by the increasing collection and utilization of consumer information. We also endogenize firms’ information acquisition decisions.

Suggested Citation

  • Liu Qihong & Shuai Jie, 2016. "Price Discrimination with Varying Qualities of Information," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 16(2), pages 1093-1121, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:bpj:bejeap:v:16:y:2016:i:2:p:1093-1121:n:11
    DOI: 10.1515/bejeap-2015-0091
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1515/bejeap-2015-0091
    Download Restriction: For access to full text, subscription to the journal or payment for the individual article is required.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1515/bejeap-2015-0091?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Irmen, Andreas & Thisse, Jacques-Francois, 1998. "Competition in Multi-characteristics Spaces: Hotelling Was Almost Right," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 78(1), pages 76-102, January.
    2. Stefano Colombo, 2011. "Discriminatory prices and the prisoner dilemma problem," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 46(2), pages 397-416, April.
    3. Silvia Sonderegger, 2011. "Market Segmentation With Nonlinear Pricing," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 59(1), pages 38-62, March.
    4. Liu, Qihong & Shuai, Jie, 2013. "Multi-dimensional price discrimination," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 31(5), pages 417-428.
    5. V. Bhaskar & Ted To, 2004. "Is Perfect Price Discrimination Really Efficient? An Analysis of Free Entry," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 35(4), pages 762-776, Winter.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Lu, Wenbo & Shuai, Jie, 2024. "Endogenous price discrimination with asymmetric firms," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    2. Sei Beom Won, 2017. "Two-dimensional price discrimination with uncertainty about willingness-to-pay," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 58(3), pages 513-541, May.
    3. Suzuka Okuyama, 2023. "Behavior‐based price discrimination in the domestic and international mixed duopoly," Manchester School, University of Manchester, vol. 91(5), pages 482-505, September.
    4. Irina Baye & Philip Hanspach & Tim Reiz & Geza Sapi, 2024. "Customer Recognition and Mobile Geo-Targeting," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 64(4), pages 615-644, June.
    5. Chiara Conti & Pierfrancesco Reverberi, 2019. "Price discrimination and product quality under opt-in privacy regulation," DIAG Technical Reports 2019-07, Department of Computer, Control and Management Engineering, Universita' degli Studi di Roma "La Sapienza".
    6. Baye, Irina & Reiz, Tim & Sapi, Geza, 2018. "Customer recognition and mobile geo-targeting," DICE Discussion Papers 285, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf Institute for Competition Economics (DICE).
    7. Okuyama, Suzuka, 2021. "Behavior-based Price Discrimination in the Domestic and International Mixed duopoly," MPRA Paper 110206, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    8. Lei Yan & Yuxiang Zhang & Shue Mei & Weijun Zhong, 2024. "Personalized pricing with persuasive advertising and the value of consumer information: a duopoly framework," Electronic Commerce Research, Springer, vol. 24(3), pages 1533-1562, September.
    9. Irina Baye & Geza Sapi, 2019. "Should Mobile Marketers Collect Data Other Than Geo‐Location?," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 121(2), pages 647-675, April.
    10. Tong Zhang & Yixue Huo & Xin Zhang & Jie Shuai, 2019. "Endogenous third-degree price discrimination in Hotelling model with elastic demand," Journal of Economics, Springer, vol. 127(2), pages 125-145, July.
    11. Conti, Chiara & Reverberi, Pierfrancesco, 2021. "Price discrimination and product quality under opt-in privacy regulation," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 55(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Sei Beom Won, 2017. "Two-dimensional price discrimination with uncertainty about willingness-to-pay," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 58(3), pages 513-541, May.
    2. Rosa-Branca Esteves & Qihong Liu & Jie Shuai, 2016. "Behavior-Based Price Discrimination in a Multi-Dimensional Preferences Market," NIPE Working Papers 4/2016, NIPE - Universidade do Minho.
    3. Hong Feng & Jie Ma, 2018. "Location choices and third‐degree spatial price discrimination," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 65(2), pages 142-153, May.
    4. Li, Youping & Shuai, Jie, 2019. "Monopolistic competition, price discrimination and welfare," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 174(C), pages 114-117.
    5. Lu, Wenbo & Shuai, Jie, 2024. "Endogenous price discrimination with asymmetric firms," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    6. Clavorà Braulin, Francesco, 2021. "The effects of personal information on competition: Consumer privacy and partial price discrimination," ZEW Discussion Papers 21-007, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    7. Luo, Meiling & Li, Gang & Chen, Xudong, 2021. "Competitive location-based mobile coupon targeting strategy," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 58(C).
    8. Clavorà Braulin, Francesco, 2023. "The effects of personal information on competition: Consumer privacy and partial price discrimination," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    9. Isabelle M. Nilsson & Oleg A. Smirnov, 2017. "Clustering vs. relative location: Measuring spatial interaction between retail outlets," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 96(4), pages 721-741, November.
    10. Weeds, Helen, 2012. "Superstars and the long tail: The impact of technology on market structure in media industries," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 24(1), pages 60-68.
    11. Jihui Chen & Qiang Fu, 2017. "Do exclusivity arrangements harm consumers?," Journal of Regulatory Economics, Springer, vol. 51(3), pages 311-339, June.
    12. Fujita, Masahisa & Thisse, Jacques-François, 2009. "New Economic Geography: An appraisal on the occasion of Paul Krugman's 2008 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 39(2), pages 109-119, March.
    13. Qihong Liu & Konstantinos Serfes, 2005. "Imperfect price discrimination, market structure, and efficiency," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 38(4), pages 1191-1203, November.
    14. Sault, Joanne & Toivanen, Otto & Waterson, Michael, 2003. "Market Structure and Entry in Fast Food," Economic Research Papers 269474, University of Warwick - Department of Economics.
    15. Juan‐José Ganuza & Esther Hauk, 2006. "Allocating Ideas: Horizontal Competition in Tournaments," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 15(3), pages 763-787, September.
    16. Takatoshi Tabuchi, 2009. "Hotelling's Spatial Competition Reconsidered," CIRJE F-Series CIRJE-F-674, CIRJE, Faculty of Economics, University of Tokyo.
    17. Heijnen, Pim & Soetevent, Adriaan R., 2018. "Price competition on graphs," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 146(C), pages 161-179.
    18. Hans Degryse & Steven Ongena, 2005. "Distance, Lending Relationships, and Competition," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 60(1), pages 231-266, February.
    19. Stefano Colombo, 2016. "Imperfect Behavior‐Based Price Discrimination," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(3), pages 563-583, September.
    20. Stefano Colombo, 2016. "Location choices with a non-linear demand function," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 95, pages 215-226, March.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • D43 - Microeconomics - - Market Structure, Pricing, and Design - - - Oligopoly and Other Forms of Market Imperfection
    • L13 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Oligopoly and Other Imperfect Markets
    • L40 - Industrial Organization - - Antitrust Issues and Policies - - - General

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bpj:bejeap:v:16:y:2016:i:2:p:1093-1121:n:11. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    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 CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc 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 RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Peter Golla (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.degruyterbrill.com .

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

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.