Estimation of Search Frictions in the British Electricity Market
研究了1999年开放竞争后英国家庭电力市场的消费者搜索和定价行为，通过结构模型估计发现搜索成本较高才能解释观察到的定价模式，且估计结果与消费者转换行为吻合。
This paper studies consumer search and pricing behavior in the B ritish domestic electricity market following its opening to competition in 1999. We develop a sequential search model in which an incumbent and an entrant group compete for consumers who find it costly to obtain information on prices other than from their current supplier. We use a large data set on prices and input costs to structurally estimate the model. Our estimates indicate that consumer search costs must be relatively high in order to rationalize observed pricing patterns. We confront our estimates with observed switching behavior and find they match well.