
doi: 10.2307/2297620
This paper considers markets in which consumers are imperfectly informed about both product prices and quality levels offered by firms. We characterize necessary and sufficient conditions for existence of the various equilibrium configurations of price and quality that can arise in two paradigm cases; when all consumers prefer higher quality and when all consumers prefer lower quality. Our results suggest that firms will exploit imperfect information by charging noncompetitive prices as well as by offering other than ideal quality in the former case, but only by changing noncompetitive prices in the latter case.
Sufficient conditions, Consumer preferences, Market prices, 330, Imperfect information, Comparative advantage, Microeconomic theory (price theory and economic markets), consumer behavior, Group preferences, product quality, price uncertainty, quality uncertainty, imperfectly informed consumers, Zero profit condition, noncompetitive prices, Demand, Consumer equilibrium, Consumer prices, Consumer information
Sufficient conditions, Consumer preferences, Market prices, 330, Imperfect information, Comparative advantage, Microeconomic theory (price theory and economic markets), consumer behavior, Group preferences, product quality, price uncertainty, quality uncertainty, imperfectly informed consumers, Zero profit condition, noncompetitive prices, Demand, Consumer equilibrium, Consumer prices, Consumer information
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