The Evolution of Brand Preferences: Evidence from Consumer Migration

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Bronnenberg, Bart J.; Dube, Jean-Pierre H.; Gentzkow, Matthew
• 署名单位: Tilburg University; University of Chicago
• 刊物名称: AMERICAN ECONOMIC REVIEW
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0002-8282
• DOI: 10.1257/aer.102.6.2472
• 发表日期: 2012
• 页码: 2472-2508
• 关键词: STATE DEPENDENCE; identification; MARKETS; demand; taste

摘要

We study the long-run evolution of brand preferences, using new data on consumers' life histories and purchases of consumer packaged goods. Variation in where consumers have lived in the past allows us to isolate the causal effect of past experiences on current purchases, holding constant contemporaneous supply-side factors. We show that brand preferences form endogenously, are highly persistent, and explain 40 percent of geographic variation in market shares. Counterfactuals suggest that brand preferences create large entry barriers and durable advantages for incumbent firms and can explain the persistence of early-mover advantage over long periods. (JEL D12, L11, M31, M37)