Bargaining, Search Costs and Equilibrium Price Distributions

S-Tier
Journal: Review of Economic Studies
Year: 1988
Volume: 55
Issue: 2
Pages: 201-214

Score contribution per author:

8.043 = (α=2.01 / 1 authors) × 4.0x S-tier

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

Abstract

This paper studies a bargaining model of equilibrium price distributions. Consumers choose a seller at random and face search costs to switching to another store. In the market equilibrium, the prices at all stores are determined simultaneously as the perfect equilibrium of a bargaining game. In this game, the buyer has the outside option to search for another seller. Differences between the sellers' types create price dispersions; typically the number of active sellers increases with higher search costs. The market equilibrium converges to the competitive equilibrium under perfect information when search costs become small.

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:oup:restud:v:55:y:1988:i:2:p:201-214.
Journal Field
General
Author Count
1
Added to Database
2026-01-24