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WHEN DO CONSUMERS SEARCH?*

2011; Wiley; Volume: 59; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1111/j.1467-6451.2011.00459.x

1467-6451

Matthew S. Lewis, Howard P. Marvel,

Consumer Behavior in Brand Consumption and Identification

The Journal of Industrial EconomicsVolume 59, Issue 3 p. 457-483 WHEN DO CONSUMERS SEARCH?† MATTHEW S. LEWIS, MATTHEW S. LEWIS Department of Economics, The Ohio State University, 1945 North High Street, Columbus, Ohio, 43210-1172, U.S.A.e-mail:mlewis@econ.ohio-state.eduSearch for more papers by this authorHOWARD P. MARVEL, HOWARD P. MARVEL ‡Department of Economics and Moritz College of Law, The Ohio State University, 1945 North High Street, Columbus, Ohio, 43210-1172, U.S.A.e-mail:marvel.2@osu.eduSearch for more papers by this author MATTHEW S. LEWIS, MATTHEW S. LEWIS Department of Economics, The Ohio State University, 1945 North High Street, Columbus, Ohio, 43210-1172, U.S.A.e-mail:mlewis@econ.ohio-state.eduSearch for more papers by this authorHOWARD P. MARVEL, HOWARD P. MARVEL ‡Department of Economics and Moritz College of Law, The Ohio State University, 1945 North High Street, Columbus, Ohio, 43210-1172, U.S.A.e-mail:marvel.2@osu.eduSearch for more papers by this author First published: 27 September 2011 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-6451.2011.00459.xCitations: 43 † *We thank Robert de Jong, Saul Lach, Huanxing Yang, Lixin Ye, and three anonymous referees for this journal for their comments and suggestions. David Knapp provided outstanding research assistance. All conclusions and/or errors are solely the responsibility of the authors. Read the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat Abstract This paper provides empirical evidence relating search to price movements. We measure consumer search directly from traffic statistics for web sites that report gasoline prices. We show empirically that consumers search more as prices rise than they do when prices fall. Asymmetric search patterns have consequences for price behavior. Our findings indicate that retail margins are squeezed by increased search. In addition, we show that there is more price dispersion when prices are falling than when prices are either stable or rising. Our results provide a search-based explanation for the 'rockets and feathers' phenomenon of asymmetric price adjustment. Citing Literature Volume59, Issue3September 2011Pages 457-483 RelatedInformation