History-based versus uniform pricing in growing and declining markets

B-Tier
Journal: International Journal of Industrial Organization
Year: 2016
Volume: 48
Issue: C
Pages: 88-117

Authors (3)

Shy, Oz (Federal Reserve Bank of Atlant...) Stenbacka, Rune (not in RePEc) Zhang, David Hao (not in RePEc)

Score contribution per author:

0.670 = (α=2.01 / 3 authors) × 1.0x B-tier

α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count

Abstract

We analyze the Markov Perfect Equilibria of an infinite-horizon overlapping generations model with consumer lock-in to compare the performance of history-based and uniform pricing in growing and declining markets. Under history-based pricing, firms charge higher prices to locked-in customers and lower prices to new customers. We show that a high exit rate of consumers (sufficiently declining market) constitutes a sufficient condition for history-based pricing to generate higher average prices than uniform pricing, thereby harming consumer welfare. In contrast, a high consumer entry rate (sufficiently growing market) ensures that history-based pricing intensifies competition compared with uniform pricing.

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:eee:indorg:v:48:y:2016:i:c:p:88-117
Journal Field
Industrial Organization
Author Count
3
Added to Database
2026-01-29