This essay studies a bilateral trading market where a single seller and a single buyer interact using simple heuristics: pure (i.e. linear) mark-up and mark-down rules. We show that the distribution of surplus between buyer and seller as well as the overall level of efficiency is crucially affected by the way mark-up and mark-down are computed. In particular, the common "cost-plus mark-up" rule often adopted by real world sellers is dominated by another pure mark-up rule, computed with respect to the value of the good to the seller. However, overall efficiency is maximized when both the seller and the buyer compute their mark-up/mark-down with respect to their costs.

Pure mark-ups and mark-downs in bilateral trade

GALAVOTTI, STEFANO
2012

Abstract

This essay studies a bilateral trading market where a single seller and a single buyer interact using simple heuristics: pure (i.e. linear) mark-up and mark-down rules. We show that the distribution of surplus between buyer and seller as well as the overall level of efficiency is crucially affected by the way mark-up and mark-down are computed. In particular, the common "cost-plus mark-up" rule often adopted by real world sellers is dominated by another pure mark-up rule, computed with respect to the value of the good to the seller. However, overall efficiency is maximized when both the seller and the buyer compute their mark-up/mark-down with respect to their costs.
2012
Economics at work - Essays on Knowledge, Information and Social Interactions
978-88-7847-420-8
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11577/2533670
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