Since Telser (1960), there is a well-established argument that a competitive market will not provide service due to freeriding. We show that with search frictions, the market may well provide service if the cost of doing so is not too large. Any market equilibrium with service provision has two or more firms providing service, implying overprovision of service as the social optimum mandates at most one service provider. Firms that provide service and those that do not can coexist, where consumers direct their search to service providers first to obtain service, and to nonservice providers later to enjoy lower prices.

中文翻译：

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寻找服务

自 Telser (1960) 以来，有一个公认的论点，即竞争市场不会因搭便车而提供服务。我们表明，在搜索摩擦的情况下，如果这样做的成本不是太大，市场可能会提供服务。任何提供服务的市场均衡都有两个或两个以上的公司提供服务，这意味着过度提供服务，因为社会最优要求至多有一个服务提供者。提供服务的公司和不提供服务的公司可以共存，消费者首先搜索服务提供者以获得服务，然后寻找非服务提供者以享受更低的价格。