Competition in Pricing Algorithms
利用高频数据研究在线零售商定价技术的新特征，发现采用更频繁调价和自动响应对手价格的算法会提高价格水平、加剧价格离散，并放大并购的价格效应。
We document new facts about pricing technology using high-frequency data, and we examine the implications for competition. Some online retailers employ technology that allows for more frequent price changes and automated responses to price changes by rivals. Motivated by these facts, we consider a model in which firms can differ in pricing frequency and choose pricing algorithms that are a function of rivals’ prices. In competitive (Markov perfect) equilibrium, the introduction of simple pricing algorithms can increase price levels, generate price dispersion, and exacerbate the price effects of mergers.