Document Type
Working Paper
Publication Date
3-2016
Abstract
I present a spatial model of differentiated product markets in which consumers with heterogeneous tastes rationally improve their attitude towards the product they choose. Adjustment raises prices if adjustment facility is greater for consumers who initially prefer a product more (e.g., preferences and corresponding adjustments exhibit the halo effect). It lowers prices if instead easier adjustment for consumers with weaker initial preferences causes attitudinal regression to the mean. The theory explains higher prices in markets to the poor and less educated and so motivates re-examination of previously proposed solutions to the poor performance of those markets.
Comments
This paper is Working Paper 10 in the Working Paper Series of the Ph.D. Program in Economics at the Graduate Center, CUNY. It is also available via RePEc: https://ideas.repec.org/p/cgc/wpaper/010.html.