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Preference for Variety
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Karen Kaiser
Published/Copyright:
January 10, 2012
We consider a decision maker who enjoys choosing from a varied set of alternatives. Building on behavioral evidence, we propose testable axioms which characterize preference for variety and provide a representation theorem. We go on to illustrate the potential effects of preference for variety in a model of retailing. Consumer welfare may be decreasing in the competitiveness of the retailing sector as competition eliminates the scope for retailers to offer variety. Mainstream consumers with a preference for variety and consumers with eccentric tastes enjoy a symbiotic relationship. Competition over mainstream consumers makes retailers offer more exotic goods, while eccentric consumers subsidize their carrying costs.
Published Online: 2012-1-10
©2012 Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co. KG, Berlin/Boston
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Articles in the same Issue
- Advances Article
- Seller Cheap Talk in Almost Common Value Auction
- Strategic Effects of Renegotiation-Proof Contracts
- Contributions Article
- Uniquely Representing "A Preference for Uniformity"
- An Experimental Comparison of Sequential First- and Second-Price Auctions with Synergies
- Transparency, Career Concerns, and Incentives for Acquiring Expertise
- Career Concerns and Performance Reporting in Optimal Incentive Contracts
- Two Notes on the Blotto Game
- The Tennis Coach Problem: A Game-Theoretic and Experimental Study
- Multidimensional Product Differentiation with Discrete Characteristics
- Screening and Financial Contracting in the Face of Outside Competition
- On Rationalizability and Beliefs in Discrete Private-Value First-Price Auctions
- Commitment versus Flexibility in Enforcement Games
- Endogenous Preferences and Dynamic Contract Design
- Intergenerational Interactions in Human Capital Accumulation
- Behavior-Based Price Discrimination by a Patient Seller
- Altruism and Local Interaction
- Education Signaling with Uncertain Returns
- An Axiomatic Approach to Arbitration and its Application in Bargaining Games
- Consensual and Conflictual Democratization
- Topics Article
- Preference for Variety
- Information Theory and Observational Limitations in Decision Making
- Strict Concavity of the Value Function for a Family of Dynamic Accumulation Models
- A Folk Theorem for Games when Frequent Monitoring Decreases Noise
- Characterizing Welfare-egalitarian Mechanisms with Solidarity When Valuations are Private Information
- Correlation in the Multiplayer Electronic Mail Game
- Dominance Solvability of Large k-Price Auctions
- Treading a Fine Line: Characterisations and Impossibilities for Liberal Principles in Infinitely-Lived Societies
- An Axiomatization of Learning Rules when Counterfactuals are not Observed
- On a Notion of Similarity with Endowments in Public Economics
- Outsourcing and Downstream R&D under Economies of Scale
- On Communication and the Weak Sequential Core
- Asymmetric Single-peaked Preferences
- Revealing Private Information in Bargaining
