Brokers and the Equilibrium Price Function

This paper describes the equilibrium price function generated by brokers in a market in which heterogeneous buyers meet heterogeneous sellers through a matching process with frictions. The equilibrium price function relates the price to alternative ratios of buyers and sellers offered by different brokers. The paper shows how brokers can enter a matching market and charge fees that yield a profit while making both buyers and sellers better off. Computational methods for deriving the equilibrium price function are developed and the solution is related to the market for access to trading partners.