A Price Dispersion Equilibrium in a Spatially Differentiated Housing Market with Search Costs
构建了一个空间差异化租赁住房市场的搜索均衡模型，预测租金离散和均衡空置率，并分析搜索成本变化对市场的影响。
An equilibrium model of search in a spatially differentiated rental housing market is formulated that predicts both rent dispersion and equilibrium vacancies. The equilibrium rent distribution is determined on the landlord's (rental supply) side given tenants' search strategies. Then tenants' optimal search strategy, denned by the share of the market a tenant searches, is determined given the costs and benefits of search and the distribution of landlords' rents. The equations of supply and demand for rental units are then combined to derive a costly information, free‐entry Nash equilibrium in the market rents. Finally, the sensitivity of equilibrium vacancies and rents to changes in search costs and other exogenous parameters is explored.