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Product Lines and Price Discrimination in Markets with Information Frictions

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  • Fabra, Natalia
  • Montero, Juan Pablo

Abstract

A well known principle in economics is that firms differentiate their product offerings in order to relax competition. However, in this paper we show that in-formation frictions can invalidate this principle. We build a duopolistic model of second-degree price competition with information frictions in which (i) there always exists an equilibrium with overlapping qualities, whereas (ii) the equilibrium with non-overlapping qualities exists only when both information frictions and the costs of providing high quality are small enough. As a consequence, reasons other than the attempt to soften competition should be used to explain why firms in some cases carry non-overlapping product lines.

Suggested Citation

  • Fabra, Natalia & Montero, Juan Pablo, 2020. "Product Lines and Price Discrimination in Markets with Information Frictions," CEPR Discussion Papers 12046, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    • Handle: RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:12046
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    Cited by:

    1. Fabra, Natalia & Reguant, Mar, 2020. "A model of search with price discrimination," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 129(C).
    2. Anna Airoldi & Michele Polo, 2017. "Opening the Retail Electricity Markets: Puzzles, Drawbacks and Policy Options," IEFE Working Papers 97, IEFE, Center for Research on Energy and Environmental Economics and Policy, Universita' Bocconi, Milano, Italy.

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    Keywords

    Product strategy; Pricing strategy; Second degree price discrimination; Search; Vertical differentiation; Retail competition;
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