Partitioned Pricing and Collusion on Surcharges

A-Tier
Journal: Economic Journal
Year: 2023
Volume: 133
Issue: 655
Pages: 2614-2639

Authors (1)

Zhiqi Chen (not in RePEc)

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

Partitioned pricing is a pricing practice that divides the price of a product into a base price and one or more mandatory surcharges. This paper develops a theory of partitioned pricing using a duopoly model where the owner of each firm determines the surcharge, but delegates the setting of the base price to a manager. In equilibrium, both firms choose partitioned pricing over the conventional all-inclusive pricing. Moreover, partitioned pricing leads to higher full prices and larger profits than all-inclusive pricing. Most surprisingly, collusion on surcharges without any coordination on base prices is as profitable as collusion on all-inclusive prices.

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:oup:econjl:v:133:y:2023:i:655:p:2614-2639.
Journal Field
General
Author Count
1
Added to Database
2026-01-25