Using a large data set on consumers' web browsing and purchasing behavior we contrast various classical search models …. We find that the benchmark model of sequential search with a known distributions of prices can be rejected based on the … distribution and have to learn the price distribution, observed search behavior for given consumers over time is more consistent …

This paper studies search and prices in the Medigap insurance market. Using data on market shares, insurer … characteristics, and plan prices, we estimate to what extent prices can be explained by search and product differentiation. In our … model, consumers search across Medigap insurers for prices as well as plan types. Our estimates indicate search costs are …

We study a consumer non-sequential search oligopoly model with search cost heterogeneity. We first prove that an … search. We find that the sequence of points on the support of the search cost distribution that can be identified is …, the search cost distribution cannot be identified accurately at quantiles other than the lowest. To solve this pitfall, we …

In a recent paper Hong and Shum [2006. Using price distributions to estimate search costs. Rand Journal of Economics 37 …, 257–275] present a structural method to estimate search cost distributions. We extend their approach to the case of … oligopoly and present a new maximum likelihood method to estimate search costs. We apply our method to a data set of online …

We modify the paper of Stahl (1989) [Stahl, D.O., 1989. Oligopolistic pricing with sequential consumer search. American … particular, expected price increases as search cost decreases and is constant in the number of shoppers and in the number of … firms. Welfare falls as firms enter the market. We show that monopoly pricing never obtains with truly costly search. …

This paper presents an empirical examination of oligopoly pricingand consumer search. The theoretical model allows for … sequential andnon-sequential search and using the theoretical restrictions firm andconsumer behavior impose on the data we study … the empirical validity of themodels. Two equilibria arise: one with costless search and the other withcostly search. We …

We propose a tractable method for estimation of a simultaneous search model for differentiated products that allows for … observed and unobserved heterogeneity in both preferences and search costs. We show that for type I extreme value distributed … search costs, expressions for search and purchase probabilities can be obtained in closed form. We show that our search model …

We study price formation in the standard model of consumer search for differentiated products but allow for search cost … heterogeneity. In doing so, we dispense with the usual assumption that all consumers search at least once in equilibrium. This … allows us to analyze the manner in which prices affect the decision to search rather than to not search at all, which is an …

We study price formation in the standard model of consumer search for differentiated products but allow for search cost … heterogeneity. In doing so, we dispense with the usual assumption that all consumers search at least once in equilibrium. This … allows us to analyze the manner in which prices affect the decision to search rather than to not search at all, which is an …

demand with optimal consumer search. Consumers first choose which products to search; then, once they learn the utility they … characteristics but also from variation in the costs of searching them. We apply the model to the automobile industry. Our search cost … estimate is highly significant and indicates that consumers conduct a limited amount of search. Estimates of own- and cross …