Prominence and consumer search

被引：162

作者：

Armstrong, Mark ^{[1
]}

Vickers, John ^{[2
]}

Zhou, Jidong ^{[1
]}

机构：

[1] UCL, London WC1E 6BT, England

[2] Univ Oxford, Oxford OX1 2JD, England

来源：

RAND JOURNAL OF ECONOMICS | 2009年 / 40卷 / 02期

基金：

英国经济与社会研究理事会;

关键词：

MODEL; COMPETITION; BEHAVIOR; COSTS;

D O I：

10.1111/j.1756-2171.2009.00062.x

中图分类号：

F [经济];

学科分类号：

02 ;

摘要：

This article examines the implications of "prominence" in search markets. We model prominence by supposing that the prominent firm will be sampled first by all consumers. If there are no systematic quality differences among firms, we find that the prominent firm will charge a lower price than its less prominent rivals. Making a firm prominent will typically lead to higher industry profit but lower consumer surplus and welfare. The model is extended by introducing heterogeneous product qualities, in which case the firm with the highest-quality product has the greatest incentive to become prominent, and making it prominent will boost industry profit, consumer surplus, and welfare.

引用

页码：209 / 233

页数：25

共 23 条

[1] Pricing, product diversity, and search costs: a Bertrand-Chamberlin-Diamond model [J].