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The economics of information
Information is valuable, since the right buyer is more likely to find the right seller Middleman is often knowledgeable
about a market, which is valuable This leads to the question: How much
information is optimal?
Information is typically not complete nor perfect
Since firms and customers are usually not fully informed, we lose efficiency Firms are unable to notify every
potential customer that her/his business is ready to sell
Customers may not know all options of companies that sells a good or service
Do we want full information in every market?
No Prohibitively costly, if it is even
possible In our analysis, we will find the
optimal amount of information
The middleman A good middleman (or
middlewoman) is knowledgeable about the market in question Some customers are willing to pay for
this service Some information providers today
are not human Google and many other search
engines have paid advertising
What is optimal?
As usual, we will use marginal analysis We will search for information is long
as MB > MC The middleman often provides this
information, but at a cost
More on the middleman Basic information can be
provided at low cost, since many people are usually knowledgeable in the topic
Very specialized information can be costly Someone may have to do
substantial research to get this specialized information
MC of information usually increases at an increasing rate
Marginal benefit of information
Basic information about a product is usually very valuable
Very specialized information usually has little value
MB of information typically gets steeper as the number of units increases
Optimal amount of information?
Find the point where MB = MC
Example: Use MC1 and MB1 curves Optimal amount
of information is 7 units, at a cost of $15 per unit
Summary: The economics of information
Information is useful, and thus has value MB/MC analysis still applies The “middleman” often provides
information, at a price
The internet and information The internet has lowered costs, but it also
sometimes gives less reliable information at little cost Example: Customer feedback
Information markets would be more efficient if information was charged in stores, with prices for goods comparable to on-line purchases American norms prevent this from happening
The internet and information
Stores that give useful information are at the mercy of buyers Buyers can use the information and
buy on-line if the good is easily found Free-rider problem
Stores may have to cut costs to stay competitive, leading to a sub-optimal amount of information given
The following example is purely hypothetical
You can make your own conclusions the usefulness of a store stocking certain merchandise
Example of a market where information is valuable Bloomingdale’s
website Sutton Studio
Exclusive Loopy Terry Casual Hoodie Jacket – Petites’
$89 on Bloomingdale’s website
$89 That’s too much
You try to find the same item on other websites
You find other websites offering the exact same item Click Back to Bloomingdale’s Why can’t I buy this from another
website?
Let’s look at the description again (emphasis mine)
Bloomingdale’s website Sutton Studio ExclusiveExclusive Loopy Terry
Casual Hoodie Jacket – Petites’ $89 on Bloomingdale’s website
Notice that nobody sells this jacket except Bloomingdale’s
Where is the information?
Some people believe that clothes from Bloomingdale’s is too expensive
Why not buy this jacket from bella.com for $50
Suppose you trust Bloomingdale’s more
100% probability of good product, $89
50% probability of good product, $50
Analysis Assumption
Any product that is not good is worthless If you trust Bloomingdale’s pay $89;
know with certainty you get a good product If you believe that the $50 jacket is good
with 50% probability, you would expect to buy 2 (on average) before buying a good jacket Expected spending: $100
Answer
Buy the Bloomingdale’s jacket for two reasons No risk (risk is costly to some people) Lower expected cost to buy a good
product
Summary: The internet and information With the widespread use of the
internet, information is free and plentiful Free-rider problem if store with good
information also charges a higher price Sellers in some markets can gain
“exclusive” rights to sell an item Buyers can judge in advance the
quality, based on who the vendor is
Asymmetric information Some markets have sellers knowing
more about their product for sales than buyers This is known as asymmetric information
Most common example: Used cars Buyer knows less about the car than the
seller Some cars are good: “plums” Some cars are bad: “lemons”
Lemons model
When buyers do not have information as to which cars are lemons and which cars are plums, sometimes only the lemons go on the market
We will go through two examples to show a case where only lemons are available on the market
Example 1 A used car dealer has the following
information about used Yugo limos: Plums are worth
$3,000 to the dealer $1,200 to the owner
Lemons are worth $250 to the dealer $100 to the owner
100 Yugo limos owned privately Half of the limos are plums, half are lemons
Yugo car
What should the used car dealer offer for Yugo limos? Suppose the used car dealer offers
$1,201 for used Yugo limos 1,201 > 1,200 Plum owners sell to dealer 1,201 > 100 Lemon owners sell to dealer
Profit if all 100 are bought Total value = 50 3,000 + 50 250 =
$162,500 Total cost of buying Yugos = 100 1,201 =
$120,100 Total profit = $162,500 - $120,100 = $42,400
What should the used car dealer offer for Yugo limos?
Should the used car dealer offer an amount other than $1,201? Offer a higher price increased cost
for no gain in value Offer a price below $1,200 only the
lemon owners would sell their cars Profit if $101 was offered 50 (250 –
101) = $7,450
What is the best price to offer?
Offer $1,201 profit is $42,400 Offer $101 profit is $7,450 Highest profit occurs if $1,201 is
offered
Example 2: Everything is the same except the last bullet point
A used car dealer has the following information about used Yugo limos: Plums are worth
$3,000 to the dealer $1,200 to the owner
Lemons are worth $250 to the dealer $100 to the owner
100 Yugo limos owned privately One-quarter of the limos are plums, three-
quarters are lemons
What should the used car dealer offer for Yugo limos? Suppose the used car dealer offers
$1,201 for used Yugo limos 1,201 > 1,200 Plum owners sell to dealer 1,201 > 100 Lemon owners sell to dealer
Profit if all 100 are bought Total value = 25 3,000 + 75 250 =
$93,750 Total cost of buying Yugos = 100 1,201 =
$120,100 Total profit = $93,750 - $120,100 = –$26,350
Notice here that the dealer will never offer $1,201
Why? Profits are negative Profits can be zero by not attempting
to buy Yugo limos
What should the used car dealer offer for Yugo limos?
Offer a price below $1,200 only the lemon owners would sell their cars Profit if $101 was offered 75 (250
– 101) = $11,175 Offer $101 to maximize profit
What else could the car dealer do?
The dealer could hire a mechanic to try to determine if the Yugo limos are lemons or plums Will do it if MB of information exceeds
MC