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Collusion with costly consumer search

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  • Petrikaitė, Vaiva

Abstract

I use standard consumer search models to study how an increase in market transparency (lower search costs or higher share of fully informed consumers) affects cartel stability. When firms sell horizontally differentiated products, cartels become more stable as the search cost increases; with homogeneous products, by contrast, the opposite holds. A higher share of fully informed consumers makes collusion less stable when the market is initially sufficiently transparent, whereas it happens otherwise if the market is originally little transparent.

Suggested Citation

  • Petrikaitė, Vaiva, 2016. "Collusion with costly consumer search," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 1-10.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:indorg:v:44:y:2016:i:c:p:1-10
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ijindorg.2015.10.006
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Swoboda, Sandra Maria, 2017. "Einfluss ausgewählter Determinanten auf die Kartellbildung und -stabilität: Eine Literaturstudie," Arbeitspapiere 176, University of Münster, Institute for Cooperatives.
    2. Jeisson Cárdenas & Jesús Otero & Luis H. Gutiérrez, 2022. "Search intensity, search time and prices: evidence from retail diesel markets in France," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 56(6), pages 4797-4807, December.
    3. Luke Garrod & Matthew Olczak, 2021. "Supply‐ vs. Demand‐Side Transparency: The Collusive Effects Under Imperfect Public Monitoring," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 69(3), pages 537-560, September.
    4. Christian Schultz, 2017. "Collusion in Markets with Imperfect Price Information on Both Sides," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 50(3), pages 287-301, May.
    5. Rupayan Pal & Sumit Shrivastav, 2024. "Privacy regulation, cognitive ability, and stability of collusion," Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research, Mumbai Working Papers 2024-004, Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research, Mumbai, India.
    6. Mark Armstrong, 2015. "Search and Ripoff Externalities," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 47(3), pages 273-302, November.
    7. Nicolas de Roos, 2018. "Collusion with limited product comparability," RAND Journal of Economics, RAND Corporation, vol. 49(3), pages 481-503, September.
    8. Paolo Crosetto & Alexia Gaudeul, 2017. "Choosing not to compete: Can firms maintain high prices by confusing consumers?," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(4), pages 897-922, December.
    9. Martin Obradovits & Philipp Plaickner, 2020. "Price-Directed Search and Collusion," Working Papers 2020-24, Faculty of Economics and Statistics, Universität Innsbruck.
    10. Montag, Felix & Sagimuldina, Alina & Winter, Christoph, 2024. "When does mandatory price disclosure lower prices? Evidence from the German fuel market," Working Papers 344, The University of Chicago Booth School of Business, George J. Stigler Center for the Study of the Economy and the State.
    11. Roos, Nicolas de & Smirnov, Vladimir, 2021. "Collusion, price dispersion, and fringe competition," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 132(C).
    12. Jacopo De Tullio & Giuseppe Puleio, 2021. "Sustainability of Collusion and Market Transparency in a Sequential Search Market: a Generalization," Papers 2105.02094, arXiv.org.
    13. Wenzel, Tobias, 2024. "Collusion, inattentive consumers and shrouded prices," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 218(C), pages 579-591.
    14. Martin, Simon, 2020. "Market transparency and consumer search - Evidence from the German retail gasoline market," DICE Discussion Papers 350, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf Institute for Competition Economics (DICE).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Sequential search; Cartel; Collusion; Search costs; Horizontal differentiation; Homogeneous products;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D43 - Microeconomics - - Market Structure, Pricing, and Design - - - Oligopoly and Other Forms of Market Imperfection
    • L13 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Oligopoly and Other Imperfect Markets
    • L41 - Industrial Organization - - Antitrust Issues and Policies - - - Monopolization; Horizontal Anticompetitive Practices

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