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Non‐Reservation Price Equilibrium and Search without Priors

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  • Alexei Parakhonyak
  • Anton Sobolev

Abstract

In this paper we analyse a model of oligopolistic competition in which consumers search without priors. Consumers do not have prior beliefs about the distribution of prices charged by rms and thus try to use a robust search procedure: they minimise the loss relative to the searcher, who knows the price distribution, in the worst case scenario. We derive the optimal stopping rule and show that it does not possess the reservation price property. This means that for a range of prices for which consumers stop searching with a probability strictly between zero and one. We show that for any distribution of search costs there is a unique market equilibrium characterised by price dispersion. Therefore search without priors helps resolve the famous Diamond (1971) paradox. We show that although listed prices approach the monopoly price as the number of rms increases, the e ective price paid by consumers does not depend on the number of rms. We show that prices in our model are lower than those in a model where consumers know the distribution of prices. The reason is that consumers actively search in equilibrium, and this pushes prices down. This e ect is so strong that the price decrease more than compensates consumers for their extra search costs.
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Suggested Citation

  • Alexei Parakhonyak & Anton Sobolev, 2015. "Non‐Reservation Price Equilibrium and Search without Priors," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 0(584), pages 887-909, May.
  • Handle: RePEc:wly:econjl:v::y:2015:i:584:p:887-909
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1111/ecoj.2015.125.issue-584
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Gamp, Tobias & Krähmer, Daniel, 2022. "Biased Beliefs in Search Markets," Rationality and Competition Discussion Paper Series 365, CRC TRR 190 Rationality and Competition.
    2. Atayev, Atabek, 2022. "Uncertain product availability in search markets," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 204(C).
    3. Atabek Atayev, 2021. "Uncertain Product Availability in Search Markets," Papers 2109.15211, arXiv.org.
    4. Karl Schlag & Andriy Zapechelnyuk, 2017. "Robust Sequential Search," Discussion Paper Series, School of Economics and Finance 201803, School of Economics and Finance, University of St Andrews, revised 05 Mar 2020.
    5. Atayev, Atabek, 2021. "Uncertain product availability in search markets," ZEW Discussion Papers 21-089, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    6. Janssen, Maarten C.W. & Parakhonyak, Alexei & Parakhonyak, Anastasia, 2017. "Non-reservation price equilibria and consumer search," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 172(C), pages 120-162.
    7. Schlag, Karl H. & Zapechelnyuk, Andriy, 2021. "Robust sequential search," Theoretical Economics, Econometric Society, vol. 16(4), November.
    8. José Tudón, 2021. "Can price dispersion be supported solely by information frictions?," Economic Theory Bulletin, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 9(1), pages 75-90, April.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D83 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Search; Learning; Information and Knowledge; Communication; Belief; Unawareness
    • D43 - Microeconomics - - Market Structure, Pricing, and Design - - - Oligopoly and Other Forms of Market Imperfection
    • L11 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Production, Pricing, and Market Structure; Size Distribution of Firms

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