Abstract
We introduce a fully probabilistic framework of consumer product choice based on quality assessment. It allows us to capture many aspects of marketing such as partial information asymmetry, quality differentiation, and product placement in a supermarket.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
G. Akerlof, Quarterly Journal of Economics 84, 488 (1970)
H.S. Houthakker, The Review of Economic Studies 19, 155 (1952)
C. Shapiro, The Bell Journal of Economics 13, 20 (1982)
Y.-C. Zhang, Physica A 299, 104 (2001)
M. Motta, J. Ind. Econ. 41, 113 (1993)
J.P. Johnson, D.P. Myatt, The American Economic Review 93, 748 (2003)
P. Champsaur, J.-Ch. Rochet, Econometrica 57, 533 (1989)
S. Berry, J. Waldfogel, NBER Working Paper No. 9675 2003
J. Sutton, Sunk Costs and Market Structure (MIT Press, 1991)
D.W. Carlton, J.M. Perloff, Modern Industrial Organization (4rd edition) (Addison-Wesley, 2005)
D. McFadden, Journal of Business 53, 13 (1980)
I.S. Currim, J. Mark. Res. 19, 208 (1982)
S.P. Anderson, A. de Palma, Oxf. Econ. Pap. 44, 51 (1992)
M. Medo, Y.-C. Zhang, Physica A 387, 2889 (2008)
R. Schmalensee, in New Developments in the Analysis of Market Structure, edited by J.E. Stiglitz, G.F. Mathewson (MIT Press, 1986)
Y.-C. Zhang, Physica A 350, 500 (2005)
D. McFadden, Frontiers in Econometrics 8, 105 (1974)
R.P. McAfee, Economics: The Open-Access, Open-Assessment E-Journal 1, 1 (2007)
M. Mussa, S. Rosen, J. Econ. Theory 18, 301 (1978)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Lü, L., Medo, M., Zhang, Y.C. et al. Emergence of product differentiation from consumer heterogeneity and asymmetric information. Eur. Phys. J. B 64, 293–300 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1140/epjb/e2008-00289-3
Received:
Revised:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1140/epjb/e2008-00289-3