סמינר באסטרטגיה

Itai Ater, Recanati School of Management, Tel Aviv University.

Analyzing panel data of 32,650 checking-account holders facing a menu of three-part tariff contracts, we document several findings that indicate that subscribers use simple heuristics to learn about the desirability of the contracts they have chosen. 

Our main findings are:

subscribers change contracts in a direction that diminishes the probability of re-experiencing the trigger for switching; 

subscribers exhibit recency effects in switching, and after switching;

the majority of switchers systematically pay higher fees than they did before. 

We argue that directional learning theory could explain why consumers behave in a manner that yields suboptimal economic outcomes.