In many markets, consumers have "switching costs" (for example, learning costs or transaction costs) of changing between functionally-equivalent brands of a product, or of using any brand for the first time. The author analyzes a four-period, complete-information model of a market with switching...

We survey recent work on competition in markets in which consumers have costs of switching between competing firms' products, even when all firms' products are functionally identical. We address issues in macroeconomics and international trade, as well as industrial organization: In a market...