Working paper

Match Quality, Search, and the Internet Market for Used Books

Glenn Ellison, and Sara Fisher Ellison

Abstract

The Internet is a nearly perfect market because information is instantaneous and buyers can compare the offerings of sellers worldwide. The result is fierce price competition, dwindling product differentiation, and vanishing brand loyalty. Robert Kuttner, Business Week, May 11, 1998. The explosive growth of the Internet promises a new age of perfectly competitive markets. With perfect information about prices and products at their fingertips, consumers can quickly and easily find the best deals. In this brave new world, retailers’ profit margins will be competed away, as they are all forced to price at cost. The Economist, November 20, 1999

Reference

Glenn Ellison, and Sara Fisher Ellison, Match Quality, Search, and the Internet Market for Used Books, October 2013.

See also

Published in

October 2013