Wednesday, November 30, 2011

[nvpprgmw] Haggling over the price of a new car

Simple economic theory predicts that a new car, a transferable commodity good sold by multiple dealers, should not be subject to price discrimination.  But haggling (negotiation), a form of price discrimination, is very common.  What is going on?

A Bertrand duopoly predicts that the advertised price should yield zero economic profit.

Random thoughts: somehow the fixed cost of running a dealership needs to get divided among the profit among the many cars sold.  How should the division be made?  A unsold new car depreciates as the next year's model approaches.  The dealer faces a risk that the car might not be sold at all.

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