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Price Variation Antagonism and Firm Pricing Policies

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  • Pascal Courty
  • Mario Pagliero

Abstract

Survey evidence suggests firms do not use pricing policies that vary prices in response to demand changes because they fear that such practices would antagonize consumers. We investigate this hypothesis using a dataset from a firm that has experimented with different pricing schemes. Each scheme is characterized by how much prices respond to demand variations. We find evidence that is consistent with the hypothesis that consumers take advantage of the opportunities offered by price changes and inconsistent with the hypothesis that consumers are antagonized by price changes caused by demand shocks.

Suggested Citation

  • Pascal Courty & Mario Pagliero, 2006. "Price Variation Antagonism and Firm Pricing Policies," Economics Working Papers ECO2006/27, European University Institute.
    • Handle: RePEc:eui:euiwps:eco2006/27
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    6. Pascal Courty & Mario Pagliero, 2008. "Responsive pricing," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 34(2), pages 235-259, February.
    7. Pascal Courty & Mario Pagliero, 2008. "Do Consumers Care about how Prices are Set?," International Journal of the Economics of Business, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 15(1), pages 27-43.
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    13. Paul Heidhues & Botond Köszegi, 2004. "The Impact of Consumer Loss Aversion on Pricing," CIG Working Papers SP II 2004-17, Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin (WZB), Research Unit: Competition and Innovation (CIG).
    14. Carlton, Dennis W, 1986. "The Rigidity of Prices," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 76(4), pages 637-658, September.
    15. Courty, Pascal & Pagliero, Mario, 2003. "Does Responsive Pricing Increase Efficiency? Evidence from Pricing Experiments in an Internet Café," CEPR Discussion Papers 4149, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    16. Frey, Bruno S. & Pommerehne, Werner W., 1993. "On the fairness of pricing -- An empirical survey among the general population," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 20(3), pages 295-307, April.
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Pascal Courty & Mario Pagliero, 2011. "Does responsive pricing smooth demand shocks?," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 43(30), pages 4707-4721.
    2. Leibbrandt, Andreas, 2020. "Behavioral constraints on price discrimination: Experimental evidence on pricing and customer antagonism," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 121(C).
    3. Tobias Gesche, 2022. "Reference‐price shifts and customer antagonism: Evidence from reviews for online auctions," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(3), pages 558-578, August.
    4. Hendrik Sonnabend, 2016. "Fairness constraints on profit-seeking: evidence from the German club concert industry," Journal of Cultural Economics, Springer;The Association for Cultural Economics International, vol. 40(4), pages 529-545, November.
    5. Richards, Timothy J. & Liaukonyte, Jura & Streletskaya, Nadia A., 2016. "Personalized pricing and price fairness," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 138-153.
    6. Ran Spiegler, 2012. "Monopoly pricing when consumers are antagonized by unexpected price increases: a “cover version” of the Heidhues–Kőszegi–Rabin model," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 51(3), pages 695-711, November.
    7. Andreas Leibbrandt, 2016. "Behavioral Constraints on Pricing: Experimental Evidence on Price Discrimination and Customer Antagonism," CESifo Working Paper Series 6214, CESifo.
    8. Richards, Timothy & Liaukonyte, Jura & Nadia, Streletskya, 2016. "Personalized Pricing and Price Fairness," 2016 Annual Meeting, July 31-August 2, Boston, Massachusetts 235809, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Consumer demand; responsive pricing; fairness; price rigidit;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D01 - Microeconomics - - General - - - Microeconomic Behavior: Underlying Principles
    • D12 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Consumer Economics: Empirical Analysis
    • L86 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Services - - - Information and Internet Services; Computer Software

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