Consumer Search and Product Returns in E-Commerce
研究了电子商务中产品退货的权衡：退货的社会浪费与购买后检验产品价值带来的搜索效率提升，发现市场退货量往往不足，且企业可能从降低搜索成本中获益。
E-commerce has led to a surge in products being returned after purchase. We analyze product returns as resulting from a trade-off between the social waste of returns and the search efficiency gains of being able to inspect a product’s value after purchase. We find whenever returns are efficient, the market generates too few returns, as the parties involved in the transaction do not internalize the welfare benefit of consumers continuing their search, generating profits for other firms. We also show, despite their consumer-friendly appearance and the private cost of returns, firms may benefit and capture the gains from less costly search.