Search Fatigue

Bruce I. Carlin () and Florian Ederer
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Bruce I. Carlin: UCLA Anderson School of Management

Review of Industrial Organization, 2019, vol. 54, issue 3, No 2, 485-508

Abstract: Abstract Consumer search is not only costly but also tiring. We characterize the intertemporal effects that search fatigue has on monopoly and oligopoly prices, the product lines offered by firms, and the provision of consumer assistance (i.e., advice). These effects vary based on the type of search that occurs among stores and within them. In contrast to standard search models, accounting for fatigue leads to product proliferation and time-varying prices, cyclical price dispersion, and consumer assistance. We analyze the welfare implications of search fatigue and discuss the conditions under which product proliferation and cyclical price dispersion are most pronounced.

Keywords: Consumer search; Fatigue; Product proliferation; Time-varying prices; Cyclical price dispersion (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
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Working Paper: Search Fatigue (2012)
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DOI: 10.1007/s11151-018-9657-5

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