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Consumer search with asymmetric price sampling

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  • Astorne-Figari, Carmen
  • Yankelevich, Aleksandr

Abstract

We explore asymmetries in the way consumers sample prices in a simple sequential search framework. In equilibrium, the price distribution of a firm catering to more local consumers first-order stochastically dominates that of its rival. Prices rise in the degree of asymmetry.

Suggested Citation

  • Astorne-Figari, Carmen & Yankelevich, Aleksandr, 2014. "Consumer search with asymmetric price sampling," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 122(2), pages 331-333.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecolet:v:122:y:2014:i:2:p:331-333
    DOI: 10.1016/j.econlet.2013.12.019
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Aleksandr Yankelevich & Brady Vaughan, 2016. "Price‐Match Announcements in a Consumer Search Duopoly," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 82(4), pages 1186-1211, April.
    2. Obradovits, Martin, 2017. "Search and segregation," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 137-165.
    3. Muck, Johannes, 2016. "Tariff-mediated network effects with incompletely informed consumers," DICE Discussion Papers 210, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf Institute for Competition Economics (DICE).
    4. Obradovits, Martin, 2015. "Going to the Discounter: Consumer Search with Local Market Heterogeneities," MPRA Paper 66613, University Library of Munich, Germany.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Sequential consumer search; Oligopoly; Price dispersion;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D43 - Microeconomics - - Market Structure, Pricing, and Design - - - Oligopoly and Other Forms of Market Imperfection
    • D83 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Search; Learning; Information and Knowledge; Communication; Belief; Unawareness
    • L13 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Oligopoly and Other Imperfect Markets

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