This lecture provides a selective discussion of some issues in the economics of competition for imperfect consumers. Limited consumer awareness – about what deals are on offer, or about the consequences of purchasing decisions – is a central feature of many markets. Consumer imperfection can give rise to market power, but can also co-exist with strong rivalry between firms, and then is more for ‘consumer policy’ than competition policy. Two recent court cases illustrate some of the issues involved. The lecture then reviews a line of theoretical work on competition for imperfect consumers. The analysis highlights some policy tradeoffs, and a key theme is how patterns of consumer awareness matter for patterns of competition among firms.

本讲座对不完善消费者竞争经济学中的一些问题进行了选择性讨论。有限的消费者意识——关于所提供的交易或购买决定的后果——是许多市场的核心特征。消费者不完善可以产生市场力量，但也可以与企业之间的激烈竞争共存，然后更多的是“消费者政策”而不是竞争政策。最近的两个法庭案例说明了所涉及的一些问题。然后，讲座回顾了一系列关于不完全消费者竞争的理论工作。分析强调了一些政策权衡，一个关键主题是消费者意识模式对公司之间的竞争模式有何影响。