Chapter 1: Selling to overconfident consumers. Consumers may overestimate the precision of their demand forecasts. This overconfidence creates an incentive for both monopolists and competitive firms to offer tariffs with included quantities at zero marginal cost, followed by steep marginal charges. This matches observed cell-phone service pricing plans in the US and elsewhere. An alternative explanation with common priors can be ruled out in favor of overconfidence based on observed customer usage patterns for a major US cellular phone service provider. The model can be reinterpreted to explain the use of flat rates and late fees in rental markets, and teaser rates on loans. Nevertheless, firms may benefit from consumers losing their overconfidence.

'Microeconomics for Business and Marketing is an extremely impressive piece of work. I would go so far as to say that it is without any doubt the best textbook on microeconomics which is available, both in terms of the range of material covered and in the way in which it is presented so clearly. 'It will be useful for non-specialist economics students, because it shows them that economics, when done properly, can say some interesting things without making ridiculous assumptions. and specialists will benefit from having such a wide range of material made accessible in a single text. I would recommend it without hesitation.' - Paul Ormerod, author of The Death of Economics and Consultant, Henley Centre for Forecasting Microeconomics for Business and Marketing is a wide-ranging, innovative textbook which will stimulate students and teachers alike. It will be of particular relevance to students of marketing, commerce and business strategy. Specifically designed with today's larger class sizes in mind, the book encourages students to question and to develop both analytical and written skills, as well as to use economics as a tool for problem solving.

The author's most important papers in a number of areas of applied microeconomic theory, many previously presented as articles in various journals during the 1970s-1990s, are collected here under categories of strategic behavior, efficiency wages, and applied price theory. Specific subjects include the durability of capital as a barrier to entry, agent compensation and the limits of bonding, and supporting collusion by choice of inferior technologies. Other topics covered are the economy of high wages, technology-trading coalitions in supergames, and the geometry of supply, demand, and competitive market structure with economies of scope. Eaton teaches economics at the University of Calgary, Canada. This work lacks a subject index. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR