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Price Discrimination and Fairness Concerns

Author

Listed:
  • Englmaier, Florian
  • Gratz, Linda
  • Reisinger, Markus
Abstract
We analyze the profitability of third degree price discrimination under consideration of consumers' fairness concerns within an experiment and explain the results within a theoretical framework. We find that with an increase in the price differential negative reciprocal reactions by disadvantaged consumers become stronger compared to positive reciprocal reactions by advantaged consumers. Consequently, the profit maximizing price differential lies below the one predicted to be optimal by standard theory. Further, profitability increases when consumers who are regarded as poorer are charged lower prices compared to when the wealth of the different consumer groups is unknown.

Suggested Citation

  • Englmaier, Florian & Gratz, Linda & Reisinger, Markus, 2012. "Price Discrimination and Fairness Concerns," Discussion Papers in Economics 12735, University of Munich, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:lmu:muenec:12735
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    File URL: https://epub.ub.uni-muenchen.de/12735/1/Englmaier_Gratz_Reisinger-Price_Discrimination_and_Fairness_Concerns.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Destan, Cavit Görkem & Yılmaz, Murat, 2020. "Nonlinear pricing under inequity aversion," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 169(C), pages 223-244.
    2. Matthew Selove, 2019. "Dynamic pricing with fairness concerns and a capacity constraint," Quantitative Marketing and Economics (QME), Springer, vol. 17(4), pages 385-413, December.
    3. Hendrik Sonnabend, 2016. "Fairness constraints on profit-seeking: evidence from the German club concert industry," Journal of Cultural Economics, Springer;The Association for Cultural Economics International, vol. 40(4), pages 529-545, November.
    4. Tomohisa Okada, 2014. "Third-degree Price Discrimination with Fairness-concerned Consumers," Manchester School, University of Manchester, vol. 82(6), pages 701-715, December.
    5. Andreas Leibbrandt, 2016. "Behavioral Constraints on Pricing: Experimental Evidence on Price Discrimination and Customer Antagonism," CESifo Working Paper Series 6214, CESifo.
    6. Alberto Cavallo, 2018. "More Amazon Effects: Online Competition and Pricing Behaviors," NBER Working Papers 25138, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    price discrimination; reciprocal fairness; inequity aversion; experimental economics;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D11 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Consumer Economics: Theory
    • D12 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Consumer Economics: Empirical Analysis
    • E3 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles

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