本文係探討廠商的價格訂定策略。因消費者在購買商品之前需支付搜尋成本，所以廠商在消費者即將購買時可以套牢消費者。這是我們所熟知的人質問題 (hold up problem)。本文將以此觀點建構出新的訂價模型。廠商需在價格上做承諾才得以避免發生人質問題。這也提供了新的價格調整成本，可以解釋為何會有價格僵固的現象。本文特色在於發掘供給面或是需求面的變動對於價格訂定的策略及價格調整的頻率有了新的預測。例如，生產成本增加、搜尋成本下降、需求下降皆有助於價格調整頻率上升。最後，本文討論競爭對於定價的影響，此處與實證資料吻合；競爭越激烈價格調整越頻繁。

This paper examines the frequency of price adjustments with imperfect seller credibility in a static setting. Firms must commit to prices as a way to circumvent the potential hold up of consumers who face search costs. Infrequent price adjustments is a commitment mechanism against the potential hold-up problem. Conditions under which commitment to a single price is optimal are given. Firms adjust prices according to its cost when the potential cost is high, or when the search cost is small, or if the distribution of consumer reservation prices has a high hazard rate. The effects of product market competition are also analyzed. This paper provides a new source for the cost of adjusting prices.

Luis Alvarez, Emmanuel Dhyne, Marco Hoeberichts, Claudia Kwapil, Herve Le Bihan, Patrick Lunnemann,
Fernando Martins, Roberto Sabbatini, Harald Stahl, Philip Vermeulen, and Jouko Vilmunen.
Sticky prices in th euro area: A summary of the new micro-evidence. Jounal of the European Eco-
nomic Association, 4:575{84, 2006.

Simon Anderson and Regis Renault. Advertising content. American Economic Review, 96:93{113,
2006.

Robert Barro. A theory of monopolistic price adjustment. Review of Economic Studies, 39:17{26, 1972.

A. Bedrossian and D. Moschos. Industrial structure, concentration and the speed of price adjustment.
Journal of Industrial Economics, 36:459{475, 1988.

Mark Bils and Peter Klenow. Some evidence on the importance of sticky prices. Journal of Political
Economy, 112:947{985, 2004.

Olivier Blanchard and Nobuhiro Kiyotaki. Monopolistic competition and the eects of aggregate demand.
American Economic Review, 77:647{666, 1987.

Alan Blinder. Why are prices sticky? preliminary results from an interview study. American Economic
Review, 81:89{96, 1991.

Alan Blinder, Elie Canetti, David Lebow, and Jeremy Rudd. Asking about prices: A new approach to
understanding price stickiness. Russell Sage Foundation, 1998.

Gerard Butters. Equilibrium distributions of sales and advertising prices. Review of Economic Studies,
44:465{91, 1977.

Dennis Carlton. The rigidity of prices. American Economic Review, 76:637{658, 1986.

RJ Dixon. Industry structure and the speed of price-adjustment. Journal of Industrial Economics, 31:
25{37, 1983.

Simon Domberger. Price adjustment and market structure. The Economic Journal, 89:96{108, 1979.

Xavier Gabaix and David Laibson. Shrouded attributes, consumer myopia, and information suppresion
in competitive markets. Quarterly Journal of Economics, 121:505{540, 2006.

Simon Hall, Mark Walsh, and Anthony Yates. How do uk companies set prices? Oxford Economic
Papers, 52:425{446, 2000.

William JacksonIII. Market structure and the speed of price adjustments: Evidence of nonmonotonicity.
Review of Industrial Organization, 12:37{57, 1997.

Joel Nachlas. Reliability Engineering - Probabilistic Models and Maintenance Methods. Taylor and
Francis Group, 2005.

Sam Peltzman. Prices rise faster than they fall. Journal of Political Economy, 108:466{502, 2000.
Jacques Robert and Dale Stahl. Informative price advertising in a sequential search model. Economet-
rica, 61:657{86, 1993.

S. Salop. The noisy monopolist: Imperfect information, price dispersion, and price discrimination.
Review of Economic Studies, 44:393{406, 1977.

Mark Stegeman. Advertising in competitive markets. American Economic Review, 81:210{23, 1991.

Jean Tirole. The Theory of Industrial Organization. The MIT Press, 1988.