We study intertemporal price discrimination when consumers can store for future consumption needs. To make the problem tractable we o¤er a simple model of demand dynamics, which we estimate using market level data. Optimal pricing involves temporary price reductions that enable sellers to discriminate between price sensitive consumers, who anticipate future needs, and less price-sensitive consu...

The three major infant formula manufacturers bid state by state to be the exclusive provider to poor families under the Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) program, and all three compete for non-WIC customers at grocery stores. Previous studies explained the low WIC prices and the higher retail prices as the result of price discrimination. We propose an alternative spillover model. Grocery store...

The welfare effects of price discrimination in the market for airfare can be ambiguous: price discrimination can increase airline revenue, but it can also allow for a more efficient allocation of tickets. This paper examines the market for airfare with a structural model of consumer search. My model features sophisticated consumers with rational beliefs about future price movements. Consumers i...

A familiar result in the literature on mergers is that the principal beneficiaries from such activity are the firms which are excluded from participation. The possible existence of this ‘merger paradox’ contrasts strongly with the frequently expressed view that merger is anti-competitive. This paper examines the question within the context of a model of spatial competition in which firms choose...

Person-specific pricing had until recently rarely been observed. The reason, that reservation values were unobtainable, may no longer be true now that massive datasets tracking detailed individual behavior exist. Hence, a fundamental change in the way goods are priced may be underway. I investigate this claim in one context. I show demographics, which in the past could be used to personalize pr...

This paper is a …rst step in investigating the competitive and welfare e¤ects of behavior-based price discrimination (BBPD) in markets where …rms have information to employ retention strategies as an attempt to avoid the switching of their clientele to a competitor. We focus on retention activity in the form of a discount o¤ered to a consumer expressing an intention to switch. When retention st...

We discuss the relations between welfare enhancing price discrimination and privacy enhancing technologies, and the possible drivers of consumers’ and merchants’ acceptance of those technologies.

This paper investigates the extent to which ...rms choose multimarket contact when there is no possibility of consumer or producer arbitrage across the relevant markets. The degree of multimarket contact is shown to be greater when ...rms o¤er distinctive products and when setup costs are low. Price discrimination increases multimarket contact, bene...tting consumers but harming ...rms. There a...