The Interplay Between Obfuscation and Prominence in Price Comparison Platforms
研究了价格比较平台如何设计搜索环境（企业显示顺序和价格复杂度），发现平台通过出售突出地位并允许较高混淆度来利用市场力量，且平台与企业在混淆程度上存在张力。
This paper analyzes price comparison platforms’ equilibrium design of their search environments, namely the order under which firms are displayed (having a prominent firm or listing firms randomly) and how much price complexity firms are able to use. It is found that (1) the possibility to obfuscate amplifies firms’ willingness to pay for the prominent position; (2) when platforms sell prominence, they optimally allow for more obfuscation than they would if they were to display firms randomly; and (3) if platforms are sufficiently differentiated, they find it optimal to sell prominence. Thus, platforms exploit their market power over consumers by implementing a prominent position and allowing for large levels of obfuscation. This paper also finds that in equilibrium, there is tension between platforms and firms regarding how much price complexity is used: firms would like to use even more obfuscation than what the platform allows, so the platform must monitor firms’ prices to make sure that they are not excessively complex. This paper was accepted by Juanjuan Zhang, marketing.