Mobile Phone Adoption, Rent-Seeking, and the Law of One Price in the Kerala Fish Market
The introduction of mobile phones addressed a key failure of competitive equilibrium in the Kerala fish market: the lack of shared price information among sellers. By gaining access to real-time prices, fishermen were empowered to become effective rent-seekers, strategically choosing markets to maximize their income. This collective rent-seeking behavior fundamentally altered the market's dynamics, pushing it toward a single, unified price consistent with the Law of One Price. The resulting market efficiency benefited both fishermen and consumers, while negatively impacting the fish dealers who had previously served as intermediaries.
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Ch.8 Supply and demand: Markets with many buyers and sellers - The Economy 2.0 Microeconomics @ CORE Econ
The Economy 2.0 Microeconomics @ CORE Econ
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