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Dynamic Competition in Deceptive Markets

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  • Johnen, Johannes
Abstract
In many deceptive markets, firms design contracts to exploit mistakes of naive consumers. These contracts also attract less profitable sophisticated consumers. I study such markets when firms compete repeatedly and gather usage data about their customers which is informative about the likelihood of a customer being sophisticated. I show in a benchmark model that firms do not benefit from private information in this setting when all consumers are rational. I find that in sharp contrast to a model with only rational consumers, this customer information mitigates competition and is of great value to its owner despite intense competition. I discuss several implications of the value of customer information on naiveté. Private information on customers’ sophistication induces profits that are bell-shaped in the share of naive consumers. Firms prefer an even mix of both customer types. I also show that if firms can educate (some) naives about hidden fees, competition is already mitigated when firms compete for customers with initially symmetric information. I analyze a policy that discloses customer information to all firms and thereby increases consumer surplus. I discuss how the UK governments’ midata program might induce crucial aspects of this policy, and illustrate the obustness of results through several extensions.
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Suggested Citation

  • Johnen, Johannes, 2020. "Dynamic Competition in Deceptive Markets," LIDAM Reprints CORE 3098, Université catholique de Louvain, Center for Operations Research and Econometrics (CORE).
    • Handle: RePEc:cor:louvrp:3098
    Note: In : The Rand Journal of Economics, doi.org/10.1111/1756-2171.12318
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    2. Yamashita, Takuro & Murooka, Takeshi, 2021. "Optimal Trade Mechanism with Adverse Selection and Inferential Mistakes," TSE Working Papers 21-1245, Toulouse School of Economics (TSE).
    3. Belleflamme, Paul & Johnen, Johannes, 2023. "Non-Price Strategies of Marketplaces: A Survey," LIDAM Discussion Papers CORE 2023015, Université catholique de Louvain, Center for Operations Research and Econometrics (CORE).
    4. Tobias Gamp & Daniel Krähmer, 2022. "Competition in search markets with naive consumers," RAND Journal of Economics, RAND Corporation, vol. 53(2), pages 356-385, June.
    5. Herweg, Fabian & Rosato, Antonio, 2018. "Bait and Ditch: Consumer Naiveté and Salesforce Incentives," CEPR Discussion Papers 12612, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    6. David Ronayne, 2020. "The Only Dance in Town: Unique Equilibrium in a Generalized Model of Price Competition," Economics Series Working Papers 874, University of Oxford, Department of Economics.
    7. Johannes Johnen & Robert Somogyi, 2019. "Deceptive Products on Platforms," Working Papers 19-13, NET Institute.
    8. Johannes Johnen & David Ronayne, 2021. "The only Dance in Town: Unique Equilibrium in a Generalized Model of Price Competition," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 69(3), pages 595-614, September.
    9. Fabian Herweg & Antonio Rosato, 2020. "Bait and ditch: Consumer naïveté and salesforce incentives," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(1), pages 97-121, January.
    10. Markus Dertwinkel‐Kalt & Mats Köster, 2022. "Attention to online sales: The role of brand image concerns," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(1), pages 64-89, February.
    11. Gui, Zhengqing & Huang, Yangguang & Zhao, Xiaojian, 2024. "Financial fraud and investor awareness," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 219(C), pages 104-123.
    12. Gamp, Tobias & Krähmer, Daniel, 2022. "Competition in Search Markets with Naive Consumers," Rationality and Competition Discussion Paper Series 364, CRC TRR 190 Rationality and Competition.
    13. Heidhues, Paul & Köszegi, Botond, 2018. "Behavioral Industrial Organization," CEPR Discussion Papers 12988, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    14. Koji Ishibashi, 2024. "Biased Beliefs of Consumers and Two-Part Tariff Competition," Keio-IES Discussion Paper Series 2024-009, Institute for Economics Studies, Keio University.
    15. Chioveanu, Ioana, 2024. "Consumer data and price discrimination by consideration sets," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 236(C).
    16. Youzong Xu, 2019. "Collective decision-making of voters with heterogeneous levels of rationality," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 178(1), pages 267-287, January.
    17. Stefano Colombo, 2018. "Behavior‐ and characteristic‐based price discrimination," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(2), pages 237-250, June.

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    JEL classification:

    • C22 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Time-Series Models; Dynamic Quantile Regressions; Dynamic Treatment Effect Models; Diffusion Processes
    • C58 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric Modeling - - - Financial Econometrics

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