Research Note: Price Discrimination as an Adverse Signal: Why an Offer to Spread Payments May Hurt Demand

摘要

Firms often search enthusiastically for distinguishing traits that they may use to price discriminate between segments. Yet there are occasions in which firms forgo the opportunity to price discriminate and instead charge a single price. Traditional ex- planations for why retailers forgo the opportunity to price dis- criminate focus on the cost of discriminating, including oper- atinal costs, explicit discrimination costs, and implicit discrimination costs.