Many markets for homogeneous goods feature market power and heterogeneity in the prices paid by buyers. Search costs are a common explanation for this phenomenon and are a concern as they generate inefficiencies. In this paper, I study a competitive market for homogeneous goods and, by exploiting a unique dataset, I find three facts that are opposite to what one would expect from a market with ...

Abstract We propose a novel penalized splines method to estimate stochastic frontier model in which the is linear and inefficiency has single index structure with unknown link function index. The approach more flexible than traditional methodology requiring parametric and, at same time, it does not incur curse of dimensionality as fully non-parametric approach. procedure can be easily implement...

In developing countries, incomplete and/or asymmetric information contributes to inefficiencies in food supply chains. Various products and services have emerged that rely on Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) facilitate flows between agro-input providers, farmers, traders, consumers. However, not all initiatives are equally effective many struggle reach scale. this article, I review...

T single-product firms with different quality levels and fixed limited capacities engage in sequential price competition in an essentially deterministic model where customers have heterogeneous valuations for both products. We develop conditions under which the leader (she) can take strategic advantage of her limited capacity by pricing relatively low, purposefully creating shortages and leavin...

A commonly observed two-stage pricing strategy for a custom-made product involves a prepurchase entry fee for a potential consumer and a purchase price if he decides to buy the product. We solve and compare two settings: In the first, the firm does not commit in advance to the second-stage price and in the second, the firm does. We show that without a commitment mechanism, the two price points ...