Published January 1980 | Submitted
Working Paper Open

Information Costs, Duration of Search and Turnover: Theory and Applications

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Abstract

This paper uses a formal model of search over multiattribute alternatives, analyzed in a product market setting, to investigate the theoretical foundations of the empirical literature on duration of search and turnover in product markets, labor markets, and marriage markets. A number of specific empirical predictions are also derived. In particular, whether "quality" is a "search" attribute or an "experience" attribute is related to the cost of search, the cost of inspection, the price of the good, and certain properties of the market distribution of price and quality.

Additional Information

This paper is a substantially revised version of "More on Inspection and Evaluation in Product Markets," unpublished manuscript, California Institute of Technology, 1978. I would like to thank Steve Lippman and Alan Schwartz for very helpful comments on an earlier draft. Published as Wilde, Louis L. "Information costs, duration of search, and turnover: Theory and applications." Journal of Political Economy 89.6 (1981): 1122-1141.

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