This paper examines a model in which position auctions influence consumer search. Both the selection of firms to include and the ordering of firms affect the efficiency of consumer search. Implications for reserve prices, click-through weights, and product variety are discussed. A two-stage auction mechanism is proposed. JEL Classification No.: D44, L86, M37

Analysis of the welfare effect of advertising depends critically upon the effect of advertising on market prices. In many circumstances, advertising that leads to higher (lower) market prices is overproduced (underproduced) from society s perspective. This paper demonstrates that these predictions may not hold when consumer search costs are important. A model is developed to show how advertisin...

Introducing a concept of real, as opposed to nominal, inequality of income or wealth suggests some historical reinterpretations, buttressed by a closer look at consumption by the rich. The purchasing powers of different income classes depend on how relative prices move. The influence of relative prices on real inequality was greater in the sixteenth through nineteenth centuries than in the twen...

Using a multi-period general equilibrium model, this paper extends the results of Mankiw (1991) by showing that monopolistically competitive firms may require ‘relatively large’ menu costs to dissuade them from changing prices in response to an aggregate demand shock that is perceived to be permanent. Thus, “small” menu costs may be insufficient to contribute to large business cycles. JEL Class...

We study markets with costly buyer search in which sellers simultaneously post prices. Buyers costlessly observe one or (with probability 1 q) two of the posted prices, and can accept one or pay to search again. The experiment varies q, the search cost, and the number of buyers. Equilibrium theory predicts a unified very low (high) price for q=0 (q=1) and predicts specific distributions of disp...

Despite intense price competition firms obfuscate product information when it is relatively costless to reveal, contrary to neoclassical predictions. This paper considers whether firms can profitably conceal (part of) their prices for a homogeneous product when consumers differ in their ability to form expectations of market prices. The model shows that the ability to conceal prices but still a...

Against the background of large fluctuations in world commodity prices and global growth, combined with ongoing structural changes relating to globalization, this paper examines some of the key factors affecting global inflation. The paper empirically investigates various relative price and structural impacts on global inflation by: estimating a GVAR to examine how oil price shocks feed through...

This study examined the incidence and determinants of quantity price discounts and quantity price surcharges in the German food sector through a bivariate probit, using recent consumer scanner survey data. Selectivity bias was corrected for in estimating the degree of quantity price surcharge and quantity price discount, using Heckman’s procedure. The findings reveal that almost 10% of the inve...

â â â  â â â  abstract â  using a structural var with block exogeneity, diagonality and identifying restrictions, this paper analyzes: first, the macroeconomic linkages among the oil price, u.s. output, interest rate, money supply, general price level and exchange rate and second, the relationships of the macroeconomic variables with the price indices of ten international nonfuel commodity grou...

housing market in iran got out of recession in year 1384 and turn into abnormal growth. but following the housing price growth, which continued until 1386, it deals with the slowdown of the housing market and stable prices in the spring of 1387. afterward, decreasing trend in housing prices continued in the summer, in spite of increase in global housing prices. in this paper, it is investigated...