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Rigid pricing and rationally inattentive consumer

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  • Matějka, Filip

Abstract

This paper proposes a mechanism leading to rigid pricing as an optimal strategy. It applies a framework of rational inattention to study the pricing strategies of a monopolistic seller facing a consumer with limited information capacity. The consumer needs to process information about the realized price, while the seller is perfectly attentive. The seller chooses to price rigidly, i.e. prices respond to changes in the unit input cost less than if the consumer was perfectly attentive. The rigidity is sometimes manifested by discreteness of prices – the seller charges a finite set of different prices even for a continuous range of unit input costs. The seller does so to provide the consumer with easily observable prices, which stimulates her to consume more and increases the seller's profit.

Suggested Citation

  • Matějka, Filip, 2015. "Rigid pricing and rationally inattentive consumer," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 158(PB), pages 656-678.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jetheo:v:158:y:2015:i:pb:p:656-678
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jet.2015.01.021
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    Cited by:

    1. Ryan A Chahrour, 2011. "Transparency and Costly Information Acquisition," 2011 Meeting Papers 1221, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    2. Xavier Gabaix, 2014. "A Sparsity-Based Model of Bounded Rationality," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 129(4), pages 1661-1710.
    3. Saint-Paul, Gilles, 2010. "A "quantum" approach to rational inattention," CEPR Discussion Papers 7739, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    4. Filip Matêjka & Alisdair McKay, 2015. "Rational Inattention to Discrete Choices: A New Foundation for the Multinomial Logit Model," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 105(1), pages 272-298, January.
    5. Antonella Tutino, 2013. "Rationally inattentive consumption choices," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 16(3), pages 421-439, July.
    6. Saint-Paul, Gilles, 2017. "A “quantized” approach to rational inattention," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 100(C), pages 50-71.
    7. Stéphane Dupraz, 2024. "A Kinked‐Demand Theory of Price Rigidity," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 56(2-3), pages 325-363, March.
    8. Kristoffer P. Nimark, 2014. "Man-Bites-Dog Business Cycles," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 104(8), pages 2320-2367, August.
    9. Kosuke Aoki & Hibiki Ichiue & Tatsushi Okuda, 2019. "Consumers' Price Beliefs, Central Bank Communication, and Inflation Dynamics," Bank of Japan Working Paper Series 19-E-14, Bank of Japan.
    10. Jean-Paul L'Huillier, 2012. "Consumers' Imperfect Information and Price Rigidities," EIEF Working Papers Series 1209, Einaudi Institute for Economics and Finance (EIEF), revised Aug 2012.
    11. Hahn, Volker & Marenčák, Michal, 2020. "Price points and price dynamics," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 115(C), pages 127-144.
    12. Angeletos, G.-M. & Lian, C., 2016. "Incomplete Information in Macroeconomics," Handbook of Macroeconomics, in: J. B. Taylor & Harald Uhlig (ed.), Handbook of Macroeconomics, edition 1, volume 2, chapter 0, pages 1065-1240, Elsevier.
    13. Tim Willems, 2017. "Actively Learning by Pricing: A Model of an Experimenting Seller," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 127(604), pages 2216-2239, September.
    14. Jiang, Gege & Fosgerau, Mogens & Lo, Hong K., 2020. "Route choice, travel time variability, and rational inattention," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 132(C), pages 188-207.
    15. Mackowiak, Bartosz & Wiederholt, Mirko, 2011. "Inattention to Rare Events," CEPR Discussion Papers 8626, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    16. Chua, Chew Lian & Tsiaplias, Sarantis, 2024. "The influence of supermarket prices on consumer inflation expectations," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 219(C), pages 414-433.
    17. Pavan, Alessandro & Vives, Xavier, 2015. "Information, Coordination, and Market Frictions: An Introduction," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 158(PB), pages 407-426.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Rational inattention; Imperfect information; Nominal rigidity;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E3 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles
    • D83 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Search; Learning; Information and Knowledge; Communication; Belief; Unawareness

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