Abstract
Elementary consumer theory assumes prices affect demand only because they affect the budget constraint (BC). Alternative models, and some evidence, suggest prices can affect demand through other, non-BC channels (e.g., by signaling quality). This paper uses a lab and a field experiment to disentangle BC from non-BC effects of prices on demand. In the lab, we find that although prices positively affect stated willingness to pay, non-BC price elasticities are considerably smaller than BC price elasticities, are often statistically insignificant, and do not increase with product uncertainty. We do not detect any non-BC effects in our field experiment.
Original language | American English |
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Pages (from-to) | 170-199 |
Number of pages | 30 |
Journal | American Economic Journal: Applied Economics |
Volume | 1 |
Issue number | 4 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Oct 2009 |