Consumer Search Costs and Market Performance

Douglas D David and Charles Holt

Economic Inquiry, 1996, vol. 34, issue 1, 133-51

Abstract: The authors conduct laboratory markets to evaluate the effects of consumer search costs on market performance. The primary research goal is to assess the behavioral relevance of Peter A. Diamond's (1971) paradoxical conclusion that the injection of a small consumer search cost alters the equilibrium price prediction from competitive to monopoly levels. Although monopoly prices are not consistently observed, the authors find that search costs do tend to raise prices. Additional experimentation indicates that below-monopoly prices are not explained by buyer avoidance of high-pricing sellers but that prices increase as search costs are raised. Copyright 1996 by Oxford University Press.

Date: 1996
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (32)

There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:oup:ecinqu:v:34:y:1996:i:1:p:133-51

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://academic.oup.com/journals

Access Statistics for this article

Economic Inquiry is currently edited by Preston McAfee

More articles in Economic Inquiry from Western Economic Association International Oxford University Press, Great Clarendon Street, Oxford OX2 6DP, UK. Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Oxford University Press ().