In this paper we investigate whether sellers treat consumers differently on the basis of how well-informed consumers appear to be. We implement a large-scale field experiment in which callers request price quotes from automotive repair shops. We show that sellers alter their initial price quotes...

Many consumers are keenly aware of gasoline prices, and consumer responses to gasoline prices have been well studied. In this paper, by contrast, we investigate how gasoline prices affect the automobile industry: manufacturers and dealerships. We estimate how changes in gasoline prices affect...

We estimate the effect of gasoline prices on short-run equilibrium prices and sales of new and used cars of different fuel economies. We find that gasoline prices have larger effects on the prices of used cars than of new cars, but that they have large effects on market shares and sales of new...