Pareto Price Discrimination

Abstract

As the collection of consumer data becomes more common, online merchants are better equipped to price discriminate now more than ever before. While the standard use of first-degree price discrimination benefits merchants and harms consumers relative to uniform pricing, I derive an alternative first-degree pricing strategy that achieves efficiency and Pareto improves upon the uniform pricing equilibrium. Furthermore, I show that price ceilings can enforce these Pareto price discrimination strategies, making Pareto price discrimination a viable option for merchants and policy makers.