This paper develops a theory of framing in an intertemporal context with risky choices. We provide a unifying account of existing theories of focusing by allowing a decision maker to choose her frame such that her attention is either drawn to salient events associated with an option or to the...

We explore how competition affects firms obfuscation strategies in laboratory experiments. Firms sell a base good and an add-on product. The price of the add-on may be shrouded and, if so, myopic consumers pay too much. Shrouding is an equilibrium but an unshrouding equilibrium coexists. In our...

This paper studies unshrouding decisions in a framework similar to Gabaix and Laibson (2006), but considers an alternative unshrouding mechanism where the impact of advertising add-on information depends on the number of unshrouding firms. We show that shrouding becomes less prevalent as the...

This paper experimentally studies the role of search cost in duopoly markets where sellers may be able to coordinate pricing decisions. We vary the level of search cost and whether sellers can communicate. While we find that consumers are more likely to invest in search when cost is reduced, we...

We experimentally examine the effects of drip pricing on seller strategies and buyer behavior as well as the implications for regulation. Sellers set two prices: a base price and a drip price. At first, buyers only observe the base prices and make a tentative purchase decision. Revealing the...

Television advertising levels in Europe are regulated according to the "Audiovisual Service Media Directive", where member states of the European Union usually impose stricter regulation on their Public Service Broadcasting (PSB) channels. The present model evaluates the effects of symmetric and...

Abstract This paper studies the performance of a direct charging regime in the ATM market in the presence of uninformed consumers who fail to recognize all relevant fees when selecting a bank. We show that the success of a direct charging regime critically depends on consumer information: the...

This paper studies competition in prices and opening hours in a model with free entry. It is shown that under free competition a market failure arises: Entry is excessive and opening hours are under-provided. Restrictions on opening hours aggravate this failure. I analyze the impact of a...

Additive Manufacturing (AM) enables mass customization and has thereby the potential to revolutionize traditional manufacturing. In this paper, we examine how the adoption of AM affects competition and welfare in traditionally standardized product markets. Analyzing a game-theoretical model of...