Retail prices for a product vary across time and places. The sources that drive price dispersion can be grouped into three categories: (i) price differences across markets, (ii) price differences across stores in a market, and (iii) within-store price variation over time. I find there is price...

We assess price dispersion in retail markets and its sources over time. Using a product-detailed price database, we document a consistent divergence of prices over time in retail markets in Uruguay: price dispersion increased by 3.1% in fifteen years. Next, we analyze microeconomic and...

Heterogeneous search costs enable price discrimination, which I study in the canonical Wolinsky (1986) sequential search setting. Firms observe a public signal of a consumer's search cost before posting a personalized price. The welfare effects of search-cost-based price discrimination depend on...

There is limited theoretical understanding of cost pass-through in markets where prices are dispersed. This paper analyzes cost pass-through within a framework that encompasses many models in the price dispersion literature where consumers vary in the number of firms they consider. We...

There is limited theoretical understanding of cost pass-through within markets where prices are dispersed. Under a general demand function, we analyse the effects of cost changes in a seminal model of price dispersion, where some consumers are captive to particular sellers while others are not...

The relationship between firm markups and inflation remains a topic of contention. Empirical findings suggest that many firms were able to maintain or increase their markups and profits amidst the recent wide-ranging cost shocks. This phenomenon, often referred to as sellers' inflation, raises...

The relationship between firm markups and inflation remains a topic of contention. Empirical findings suggest that many firms were able to maintain or increase their markups and profits amidst the recent wide-ranging cost shocks. This phenomenon, often referred to as sellers' inflation, raises...

There is limited theoretical understanding of cost pass-through within markets where prices are dispersed. Under a general demand function, we analyse the effects of cost changes in a seminal model of price dispersion, where some consumers are captive to particular sellers while others are not...

We assess price dispersion in retail markets and its sources over time. Using a product-detailed price database, we document a consistent divergence of prices over time in retail markets in Uruguay: price dispersion increased by 3.1% in fifteen years. Next, we analyze microeconomic and...

Price comparison websites, where consumers can compare prices at a search cost that is close to zero, have become increasingly common around the world. Using daily information on prices, click-throughs, and the number of retailers for a sample of consumer electronics and durable goods over a...

Agricultural commodity markets in developing countries are characterized by high transaction costs and risks that reduce trade flows among spatial markets. We examine whether institutionalized agricultural commodity exchange markets reduce transaction costs and hence spatial price dispersion...

In product markets, there exists substantial dispersion in prices for transactions of physically identical goods, and incumbent sellers sell at higher prices than entrants. This study develops a theory of dynamic pricing that explains these facts as results from the same fundamental friction:...

We broaden and develop the classic captive-and-shopper model of sales. Firstly, we allow for asymmetric marginal costs as well as asymmetric captive audiences. These asymmetries jointly determine the identities of the two or more firms we find compete (via randomized sales) to serve shoppers. In...

Buyers and sellers in developing countries are often restricted from accessing distant markets by asymmetric price information and costly searches. Electronic marketplaces can reduce transaction costs and improve market performance. This study uses monthly panel data from 2000 to 2017 and...

We provide a theory of dynamic oligopoly pricing with heterogeneous price technologies, captured by the presence of trackers (on the firm-side) and shoppers (on the consumer-side) who can costlessly follow market prices. Our paper contributes to reconciling the variation in observed price...

This paper examines a homogeneous-good Bertrand-Edgeworth oligopoly model to explore the role of firm size and number in pricing. We consider the price impact of merger, break up, investment, divestment, entry and exit. A merger leads to higher prices only when it increases the size of the...

Whereas between-retailer price discrepancies are well documented, less is known about price differentiations within a single chain. This article investigates the prevalence and the magnitude of online within-retailer price dispersion over time. Amazon is the US largest online food retailer (and...

We broaden and develop the classic captive-and-shopper model of sales. Firstly, we allow for asymmetric marginal costs as well as asymmetric captive audiences. These asymmetries jointly determine the identities of the two or more firms we find compete (via randomized sales) to serve shoppers. In...