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The Micro-foundations of Intertemporal Price Discrimination

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  • Winston T.H. Koh

    (SMU)

Abstract

This paper investigates the optimality of intertemporal price discrimination for a durable-good monopoly in a model where infinitely-lived households face an intertemporal budget constraint, and consume both durable goods and non-durable goods. We prove that the optimal price of the durable good is not constant, and may decrease or increase over time. Some households may choose to purchase the durable good at a later date, and pay lower or higher prices, since the gain in discounted utility of consuming more of the non-durable good more than compensates for the loss in utility from delaying the consumption of the durable good.

Suggested Citation

  • Winston T.H. Koh, 2005. "The Micro-foundations of Intertemporal Price Discrimination," Microeconomics Working Papers 22456, East Asian Bureau of Economic Research.
    • Handle: RePEc:eab:microe:22456
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Qu, Zhan & Raff, Horst & Schmitt, Nicolas, 2018. "Incentives through inventory control in supply chains," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 486-513.
    2. Eduardo Correia de Souza & Jorge Chami Batista, 2015. "Replacement cycles, income distribution and dynamic price discrimination," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 47(31), pages 3292-3310, July.
    3. Hikmet Gunay, 2014. "Waiting for Signaling Quality," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 81(2), pages 364-386, October.
    4. Daniel Melser & Iqbal A. Syed, 2016. "Life Cycle Price Trends and Product Replacement: Implications for the Measurement of Inflation," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 62(3), pages 509-533, September.
    5. Tian Xia & Richard Sexton, 2010. "Brand or Variety Choices and Periodic Sales as Substitute Instruments for Monopoly Price Discrimination," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 36(4), pages 333-349, June.
    6. Iqbal Syed & Daniel Melser, 2008. "Prices over the Product Life Cycle: An Empirical Analysis," Discussion Papers 2008-25, School of Economics, The University of New South Wales.
    7. Daniel Melser & Iqbal A. Syed, 2017. "The product life cycle and sample representativity bias in price indexes," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 49(6), pages 573-586, February.
    8. Artyom Shneyerov, 2014. "An optimal slow Dutch auction," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 57(3), pages 577-602, November.
    9. Melser, Daniel & Syed, Iqbal, 2007. "Life Cycle Pricing and the Measurement of Inflation," MPRA Paper 16722, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 07 Jul 2008.
    10. Runco Mariano G, 2010. "A Note on the Multidimensional Monopolist Problem and Intertemporal Price Discrimination," The B.E. Journal of Theoretical Economics, De Gruyter, vol. 10(1), pages 1-8, August.
    11. Lou, Weifang & Prentice, David & Yin, Xiangkang, 2012. "What difference does dynamics make? The case of digital cameras," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 30(1), pages 30-40.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Intertemporal price discrimination; durable good monopoly; optimal pricing strategy; household demand;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D40 - Microeconomics - - Market Structure, Pricing, and Design - - - General
    • D42 - Microeconomics - - Market Structure, Pricing, and Design - - - Monopoly
    • D91 - Microeconomics - - Micro-Based Behavioral Economics - - - Role and Effects of Psychological, Emotional, Social, and Cognitive Factors on Decision Making

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