Competition for imperfect consumers

Journal article

Abstract:: This lecture provides a selective discussion of some issues in the economics of competition for imperfect consumers. Limited consumer awareness – about what deals are on offer, or about the consequences of purchasing decisions – is a central feature of many markets. Consumer imperfection can give rise to market power, but can also co-exist with strong rivalry between firms, and then is more for ‘consumer policy’ than competition policy. Two recent court cases illustrate some of the issues involved. The lecture then reviews a line of theoretical work on competition for imperfect consumers. The analysis highlights some policy tradeoffs, and a key theme is how patterns of consumer awareness matter for patterns of competition among firms.

Files:: Vickers_2021_Competition_imperfect_consumers.pdf

(Preview, Accepted manuscript, pdf, 223.0KB, Terms of use)

Publisher:: Elsevier
Journal:: International Journal of Industrial Organization More from this journal
Volume:: 79
Article number:: 102739
Publication date:: 2021-04-20
Acceptance date:: 2021-04-12
DOI:: 10.1016/j.ijindorg.2021.102739
ISSN:: 0167-7187

Language:: English
Keywords:: FFR

price discrimination

consumer search

consumer policy

price dispersion

consideration sets
Pubs id:: 1171143
Local pid:: pubs:1171143
Deposit date:: 2021-04-13
ARK identifier:: ark:/29072/ora_0834b4a098dd483f94dbc57fd70014cd

Copyright holder:: Elsevier B.V.
Notes:: This is the accepted manuscript version of the article. The final version is available online from Elsevier at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijindorg.2021.102739

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