← Search

Review of Economic Studies Vol. 55 No. 2 1988

Uncertainty and Shopping Behaviour: An Experimental Analysis

David M. Grether1; Alan Schwartz2; Louis L. Wilde1

1 California Institute of Technology · 2 Yale University

Abstract

This paper reports experimental tests of three search equilibrium models. These models which differ only in the search strategies available to the buyers have qualitatively different predictions, that is, equilibria: price distributions, single price equilibria at the competitive price and at the monopoly price and two price equilibria. The experimental outcomes generally were consistent with the models' predictions. This suggests that debate on the utility of this class of models should shift to the realism of the models' assumptions rather than focus on their ability to characterize market outcomes. Also, since the basic models have been validated, the project of analysing experimentally the results of relaxing some of their assumptions seems worthwhile.

DOI
10.2307/2297584
Volume
55
Issue
2
Pages
323
Sources
bibtex:phds-export.bib openalex crossref

Cite