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Market Transparency and Product Differentiation

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  • Christian Schultz

    (Institute of Economics, University of Copenhagen)

Abstract

In a Hotelling market with endogenous choice of product characteristics increasing market transparency on the consumer side leads to less product differentiation, and lower prices and profits. This is welfare improving for all consumers and total surplus increases.

Suggested Citation

  • Christian Schultz, 2002. "Market Transparency and Product Differentiation," CIE Discussion Papers 2002-02, University of Copenhagen. Department of Economics. Centre for Industrial Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:kud:kuieci:2002-02
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Schlatterer, Markus & Saur, Marc & Schmitt, Stefanie, 2019. "Horizontal product differentiation with limited attentive consumers," VfS Annual Conference 2019 (Leipzig): 30 Years after the Fall of the Berlin Wall - Democracy and Market Economy 203571, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    2. Yiquan Gu & Tobias Wenzel, 2017. "Consumer confusion, obfuscation and price regulation," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 64(2), pages 169-190, May.
    3. Gloria Solano Hermosilla & Pavel Ciaian & Jonas Kathage, 2019. "Market transparency: Costs of external data reporting by private operators in the EU agri-food supply chain - A survey-based analysis," JRC Research Reports JRC116927, Joint Research Centre.
    4. Focht, Uwe & Richter, Andreas & Schiller, Jörg, 2006. "Intermediation, compensation and tacit collusion in insurance markets," Working Papers on Risk and Insurance 17, University of Hamburg, Institute for Risk and Insurance.
    5. Brekke, Kurt R. & Nuscheler, Robert & Straume, Odd Rune, 2007. "Gatekeeping in health care," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 26(1), pages 149-170, January.
    6. Harrison, Spencer Huber & Nurmohamed, Samir, 2023. "Dirty creativity: An inductive study of how creative workers champion new designs that are stigmatized," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 175(C).
    7. Uwe Focht & Andreas Richter & Jörg Schiller, 2013. "Intermediation and (Mis-)Matching in Insurance Markets—Who Should Pay the Insurance Broker?," Journal of Risk & Insurance, The American Risk and Insurance Association, vol. 80(2), pages 329-350, June.
    8. Saur, Marc P. & Schlatterer, Markus G. & Schmitt, Stefanie Y., 2022. "Limited perception and price discrimination in a model of horizontal product differentiation," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 134(C), pages 151-168.
    9. Nelson Granados & Alok Gupta & Robert J. Kauffman, 2010. "Research Commentary---Information Transparency in Business-to-Consumer Markets: Concepts, Framework, and Research Agenda," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 21(2), pages 207-226, June.
    10. Bourgain, Arnaud & Pieretti, Patrice & Zanaj, Skerdilajda, 2012. "Financial openness, disclosure and bank risk-taking in MENA countries," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 13(3), pages 283-300.
    11. Hofmann, Annette & Nell, Martin, 2008. "The impact of intermediary remuneration in differentiated insurance markets," Working Papers on Risk and Insurance 22, University of Hamburg, Institute for Risk and Insurance.
    12. Belleflamme, Paul & Peitz, Martin, 2019. "Price disclosure by two-sided platforms," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).
    13. Charlene Cosandier & Filomena Garcia & Malgorzata Knauff, 2018. "Price competition with differentiated goods and incomplete product awareness," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 66(3), pages 681-705, October.
    14. Stühmeier, Torben, 2012. "Target Advertising and Market Transparency," VfS Annual Conference 2012 (Goettingen): New Approaches and Challenges for the Labor Market of the 21st Century 62021, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    15. Xu, Lili & Matsumura, Toshihiro, 2023. "Market transparency in a mixed oligopoly," MPRA Paper 118415, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    16. Schultz, Christian, 2009. "Transparency and product variety," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 102(3), pages 165-168, March.
    17. KNAUFF, Malgorzata, 2006. "Market transparency and Bertrand competition," LIDAM Discussion Papers CORE 2006037, Université catholique de Louvain, Center for Operations Research and Econometrics (CORE).
    18. Boone, Jan & Pottersz, Jan, 2006. "Transparency and prices with imperfect substitutes," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 93(3), pages 398-404, December.
    19. Saur, Marc P. & Schlatterer, Markus G. & Schmitt, Stefanie Yvonne, 2019. "Horizontal product differentiation with limited attentive consumers," BERG Working Paper Series 143, Bamberg University, Bamberg Economic Research Group.
    20. Rasch, Alexander & Herre, Jesko, 2013. "Customer-side transparency, elastic demand, and tacit collusion under differentiation," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 25(1), pages 51-59.
    21. Focht, Uwe & Richter, Andreas & Schiller, Jörg, 2009. "Intermediation and matching in insurance markets," FZID Discussion Papers 04-2009, University of Hohenheim, Center for Research on Innovation and Services (FZID).
    22. Schultz, Christian, 2014. "Consumer poaching, brand switching, and price transparency," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 123(3), pages 266-269.
    23. Yung-Hsin Lee & Shui-Lien Chen, 2019. "Effect of Green Attributes Transparency on WTA for Green Cosmetics: Mediating Effects of CSR and Green Brand Concepts," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(19), pages 1-15, September.
    24. Elisa Baraibar‐Diez & María D. Odriozola & José Luis Fernández Sánchez, 2017. "A Survey of Transparency: An Intrinsic Aspect of Business Strategy," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(4), pages 480-489, May.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    market transparency; product differentiation; competition policy;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • L13 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Oligopoly and Other Imperfect Markets
    • L15 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Information and Product Quality
    • L40 - Industrial Organization - - Antitrust Issues and Policies - - - General

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