I don't think this was a doctoral dissertation. The guy is already an economics professor and researcher from what I could tell.
This is a fascinating topic to many economic researchers: when and why don't consumers act rationally? I thought this guy's general thesis was sort of a given--such as, "vitamin C is good for you." In this reasearch I assume that he was able to at least quantify the effects that initial price and shipping cost each had on the final bid. That information would be interesting and valuable. I wonder if the same relationships hold for mail order.
Those relationships may also change when different items are sold. The professors sold "Britney Sears" CDs! How "fully informed and perfectly rational" could these consumers be?
The article makes it sound like the guy actually did a doctoral dissertation on this...
ReplyDeleteI don't think this was a doctoral dissertation. The guy is already an economics professor and researcher from what I could tell.
ReplyDeleteThis is a fascinating topic to many economic researchers: when and why don't consumers act rationally? I thought this guy's general thesis was sort of a given--such as, "vitamin C is good for you." In this reasearch I assume that he was able to at least quantify the effects that initial price and shipping cost each had on the final bid. That information would be interesting and valuable. I wonder if the same relationships hold for mail order.
Those relationships may also change when different items are sold. The professors sold "Britney Sears" CDs! How "fully informed and perfectly rational" could these consumers be?