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on Marketing |
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Issue of 2017‒08‒27
three papers chosen by João Carlos Correia Leitão Universidade da Beira Interior |
| By: | Laouénan, Morgane (CNRS, Centre d’Economie de la Sorbonne, Sciences-Po LIEPPAuthor-Name: Rathelot, Roland; University of Warwick, CEPR, CAGE) |
| Abstract: | We use data from an online marketplace of vacation rentals (Airbnb) collected in 19 major cities in North America and Europe to measure discrimination against ethnicminority hosts. This market has three interesting features: the existence of a detailed reviewing system, the high frequency of transactions and the panel dimension of the data. Using the fact that ratings provide potential guests with information about the quality of a listing, we build a credible measure of statistical discrimination, following a strategy a la ` Altonji and Pierret (2001). Hosts from a minority ethnic group charge 16% less than other hosts in the same cities. Controlling for a rich set of characteristics reduces the ethnic price gap to 3.2%. An additional review increases the daily price more for minority than for majority hosts. Estimating the parameters of a theoretical pricing model, we find that statistical discrimination accounts for most of the price differential: 2.5 percentage points.Keywords: ethnic discrimination, statistical discrimination, rental market JEL Classification: J15, L85 |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cge:wacage:318&r=mkt |
| By: | Herz, Benedikt; Kiljanski, Kamil |
| Abstract: | This paper presents estimates of lost movie sales due to unpaid movie consumption. We are the first to provide estimates that are recent, representative of the internet-using population, and cover multiple countries. Based on an online questionnaire with almost 30,000 respondents, we document that one unpaid (first) viewing of a movie displaces about 0.37 units of paid viewings. Using a back-of-the-envelope calculation, we show that this implies that unpaid movie viewings reduced movie sales in Europe by about 4.4% during the sample period. Lost sales differ substantially by country: they are in the range of 1.65% for Germany and 10.4% for Spain. We also find that 94% of lost sales are due to unpaid viewings by a small group of only 20% of consumers. Our findings have important implications for copyright policy. |
| Keywords: | movie piracy, copyright, displacement |
| JEL: | O34 |
| Date: | 2016–09–22 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:80817&r=mkt |
| By: | Selcuk, Cemil (Cardiff Business School); Gokpinar, Bilal (UCL School of Management) |
| Abstract: | We study the selection and dynamics of two popular pricing policies fixed price and flexible pricing in competitive markets. Our paper extends previous work in marketing, e.g. Desai and Purohit (2004) by focusing on decentralized markets with a dynamic and fully competitive framework while also considering possible non-economic aspects of bargaining. We construct and analyze a competitive search model which allows us to endogenize the expected demand depending on pricing rules and posted prices. Our analysis reveals that fixed price and flexible pricing policies generally coexist in the same marketplace, and each policy comes with its own list price and customer demographics. More specifically, if customers dislike haggling, then fixed pricing emerges as the unique equilibrium, but if customers get some additional satisfaction from the bargaining process, then both policies are offered, and the unique equilibrium exhibits full segmentation: Haggler customers avoid fixed-price firms and exclusively shop at flexible firms whereas non-haggler customers do the opposite. We also find that prices increase in customer satisfaction, implying that sellers take advantage of the positive utility enjoyed by hagglers in the form of higher prices. Finally, considering the presence of seasonal cycles in most markets, we analyze a scenario where market demand goes through periodic ups and downs and find that equilibrium prices remain mostly stable despite significant áuctuations in demand. This finding suggests a plausible competition-based explanation for the stability of prices. |
| Keywords: | housing; search; thin and thick markets; seasonality |
| Date: | 2017–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cdf:wpaper:2017/9&r=mkt |