Revisiting the Relationship between Competition and Price Discrimination

B-Tier
Journal: American Economic Journal: Microeconomics
Year: 2018
Volume: 10
Issue: 2
Pages: 190-224

Authors (2)

Ambarish Chandra (University of Toronto) Mara Lederman (not in RePEc)

Score contribution per author:

1.009 = (α=2.02 / 2 authors) × 1.0x B-tier

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

Abstract

We revisit the relationship between competition and price discrimination. Theoretically, we show that if consumers differ in terms of both their underlying willingness-to-pay and their brand loyalty, competition may increase price differences between some consumers while decreasing them between others. Empirically, we find that competition has little impact at the top or the bottom of the price distribution but a significant impact in the middle, thus increasing some price differentials but decreasing others. Our findings highlight the importance of understanding the relevant sources of consumer heterogeneity and can reconcile earlier conflicting findings.

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:aea:aejmic:v:10:y:2018:i:2:p:190-224
Journal Field
General
Author Count
2
Added to Database
2026-01-25