Pricing in inflationary times: The penny drops

How does the frequency and magnitude of micro-price rises and falls relate to macroeconomic crisis, as well as moderation? Weekly micropricing behaviour in British groceries was investigated across three leading retailers over the moderation period 2004–7 and the crisis period 2008–10. We find significant price flexibility sharply distinguished from behaviour observed in most previous works. Downward price flexibility increased markedly in 2008. Overall basket prices rise, but significantly more individual prices fall than rise in the latter period. Tests of obfuscation in price setting suggested that large numbers of small price falls were used to disguise the basket price rises

Obscurity by Design

Design-based solutions to confront technological privacy threats are becoming popular with regulators. However, these promising solutions have left the full potential of design untapped. With respect to online communication technologies, design-based solutions for privacy remain incomplete because they have yet to successfully address the trickiest aspect of the Internet—social interaction. This Article posits that privacy-protection strategies such as “Privacy by Design” face unique challenges with regard to social software and social technology due to their interactional nature. This Article proposes that design-based solutions for social technologies benefit from increased attention to user interaction, with a focus on the principles of “obscurity” rather than the expansive and vague concept of “privacy.” The main thesis of this Article is that obscurity is the optimal protection for most online social interactions and, as such, is a natural locus for design-based privacy solutions for social technologies. To that end, this Article develops a model of “obscurity by design” as a means to address the privacy problems inherent in social technologies and the Internet