2021/05/31 by David Bounie, Antoine Dubus, Patrick Waelbroeck · 1 citation
Business, Management and Accounting · Decision Sciences · #Consumer Market Behavior and Pricing #Digital Platforms and Economics #Game Theory and Applications
paper · doi:10.1111/1756-2171.12369
openalex publication_date 2021/05/31 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/29
Abstract This article investigates the strategies of a data broker selling information to one or to two competing firms. The data broker combines segments of the consumer demand that allow firms to third‐degree price discriminate consumers. We show that the data broker (1) sells information on consumers with the highest willingness to pay; (2) keeps consumers with low willingness to pay unidentified. The data broker strategically chooses to withhold information on consumer demand to soften competition between firms. These results hold under first‐degree price discrimination, which is a limit case when information is perfect.