DP9809 Heterogenous switching costs
Author(s): | Gary Biglaiser, Jacques Crémer, Gergely Dobos |
Publication Date: | February 2014 |
Keyword(s): | switching cost |
JEL(s): | D43, L13 |
Programme Areas: | Industrial Organization |
Link to this Page: | cepr.org/active/publications/discussion_papers/dp.php?dpno=9809 |
We consider a simple two period model where consumers have different switching costs. Before the market opens, there was an incumbent who sold to all consumers. We identify the equilibrium both with Stackelberg and Bertrand competition and show how the presence of low switching cost consumers benefits the incumbent, despite the fact that it never sells to any of them.