MARKET SEGMENTATION WITH NONLINEAR PRICING*
研究了企业向受竞争影响不同的消费者群体提供不同价格-质量菜单的利弊，发现市场细分的效果取决于受竞争影响较小的市场中消费者偏好的范围。
We study the benefits and drawbacks of allowing firms to offer different price-quality menus to captive consumers and to consumers more exposed to competition (market segmentation). We show that the effect of market segmentation depends on the relationship between the range of consumer preferences found in captive and competitive markets. When the range of consumer preferences in captive markets is ‘wide,’ segmentation is quality and (aggregate) welfare reducing, while the opposite holds when the range of consumer preferences in captive markets is ‘narrow.’ Segmentation always harms captive consumers, while it always benefits consumers located in competitive markets.