@djc i don’t think so, because having to search around is just a deadweight cost. it doesn’t do any actual good for the producer that you’ve lost time. it’s a loss to you without a benefit to them, other than providing a basis to discriminate. socially it’s just a loss. all the time people spend checking the same prices three ways is time they could have spent on other things. 1/

@djc obviously in practice things get blurry, but i think imposing costs that are not actual efficiencies to price discriminate is not justifiable (we’ll make the seats in economy uncomfortable even though it’d be just as cheap to make them comfortable), while charging different prices for products that are the best that can be provided for the providers’ cost of provision, even if some of those prices have much higher margins than others, is fine.