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α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count
We study a two-period model of behavior-based price discrimination where firms can agree to share customer information before the first-period competition begins, and the information can be used for personalized pricing in the second-period competition. We show that information sharing is individually rational for firms as it softens upfront competition when information is gathered, consumers are worse off as a result, but total surplus can increase thanks to the improved quality of matching between firms and consumers. These findings are robust to firm asymmetries and varying discount factors for consumers and firms.