

Efficent Market Hypothesis: irrational to compare prices? - abcde

Is it irrational to compare prices / read reviews for highly commodity things like desktop computers and monitors given the efficient market hypothesis? Does it make sense to spend time reading reviews at all?
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cperciva
If you believe that the market has zero friction (and I don't think you'll
find any economists who believe that) then there is no point comparing prices.

Reading reviews is worth doing for non-commodities -- which is to say, reading
reviews is worth doing whenever reviews exist. You won't find reviews
comparing bricks of 99.9999% pure gold with each other; there would be no
point. But you certainly do find reviews of computers: The best computer for
one person is not necessarily the best for someone else -- computers are not
commodities.

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noodle
it isn't irrational to do either.

reading reviews isn't about the power of the dollar you're spending, its about
ensuring the purchase you're making is the one you want. you can spend money
and be assured that you're buying something worth the money. but the question
is whether you actually want that thing that is worth the money you're
spending.

comparing prices is getting less worthwhile, especially if you take a lot of
time to do so. but it can be worthwhile depending on the case.

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brm
its not rational to take any action thats based solely on an unproven
hypothesis.

