Good-Looking Prices

Bradley Ruffle, Arie Sherman () and Zeev Shtudiner ()
Additional contact information
Arie Sherman: Department of Economics and Management, Ruppin Academic Center, Israel
Zeev Shtudiner: Department of Economics and Business Administration, Ariel University, Israel

Working Paper series from Rimini Centre for Economic Analysis

Abstract: We design a field experiment to test for price discrimination at seemingly highly competitive Israeli produce markets. We trained 90 buyers and sent them to produce markets across Israel. After verifying a product’s posted price, they asked for a discount on a one-kilogram or one-unit purchase. Vendors employ third-degree price discrimination: women are offered larger and more frequent discounts than men, and the more attractive the female buyer, the larger and more frequent the discount offered. Male buyers do not benefit from this beauty discount. No other buyer characteristic is a significant predictor of the likelihood or size of a discount. To understand our findings, we provide a more nuanced view of these markets that includes search costs and considerable vendor price-setting discretion.

Keywords: experimental economics; beauty; price discrimination; negotiation; price discounts; search costs (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C91 D01 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020-06
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-com and nep-exp
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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http://rcea.org/RePEc/pdf/wp20-17.pdf

Related works:
Working Paper: Good-Looking Prices (2020)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:rim:rimwps:20-17

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