Optimal pricing scheme for addictive goods

A-Tier
Journal: RAND Journal of Economics
Year: 2024
Volume: 55
Issue: 4
Pages: 603-626

Score contribution per author:

4.022 = (α=2.01 / 1 authors) × 2.0x A-tier

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

Abstract

This article analyses how consumers' habit formation and addiction affect firms' pricing policies. I consider both sophisticated consumers, who realize that their current consumption will affect future tastes, and “naive” consumers, who do not. The optimal contract for sophisticated consumers is a two‐part tariff. The main result is that the optimal pricing pattern when the consumer is naive is a “bargain then rip‐off” contract, namely a fixed fee, with the first units priced below cost, and then priced above marginal cost. This holds both under symmetric and asymmetric information about the consumers' degree of sophistication.

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:bla:randje:v:55:y:2024:i:4:p:603-626
Journal Field
Industrial Organization
Author Count
1
Added to Database
2026-02-02