Nonparametric search

The authors analyze the search problem of a consumer who derives information only from the sequential search process. This paper considers the case of a consumer who uses a nonparametric procedure to estimate the probability distribution. It is shown that a solution to the consumer’s problem is a very simple strategy which depends only on the order statistics, on the discounting factor, and on the duration of the search. It leads to a finite search almost surely. This optimal strategy is a myopic rule which is computable and which is characterized by a sequence of strictly increasing reservation prices.