Search Fatigue ∗

Consumer search is clearly costly, but is also tiring. We characterize the intertemporal effects that search fatigue has on oligopoly prices, product proliferation, and consumer assistance (i.e., advice). These effects vary based on whether search is all-or-nothing, fixed sample, or sequential in nature. We perform welfare analysis and highlight the novel empirical implications that our analysis generates. ∗We would like to thank God for giving us a day of rest to recover from all of our search fatigue. †Anderson School of Management, University of California, Los Angeles, 110 Westwood Plaza Suite C413, Los Angeles, CA 90095, [email protected], (310) 825-7246. ‡Anderson School of Management, University of California, Los Angeles, 110 Westwood Plaza Suite D515, Los Angeles, CA 90095, [email protected], (310) 825-7348. §Anderson School of Management, University of California, Los Angeles, 110 Westwood Plaza, Los Angeles, CA 90095, [email protected], (310) 825-3649.