Consumer search with observational learning
研究消费者在搜索过程中观察前人的购买决策并模仿其搜索行为，分析这种模仿对价格和市场竞争的影响，发现模仿会降低价格对变化的反应，且在某些条件下效果更强。
Abstract This article studies observational learning in a consumer search environment. Consumers observe the purchasing decision of a predecessor with similar preferences. Consumers rationally emulate by initiating their search at the firm from which their predecessor purchased, free‐riding on search effort, and reacting less to price changes. Prices are nonmonotone in search costs and may be as low as marginal costs. We discuss several extensions and show that the effect of emulation on prices is stronger when (i) the number of firms increases, (ii) consumers' first visits are more elastic with respect to market shares, and (iii) prices are adjusted more frequently.