Search, Purchasing and Behavioral Economics on the Web (Research Seminar, September 13th, 2001) Eric Johnson Norman Eig Professor of Business, Columbia University Abstract: The introduction of electronic commerce was widely believed to engender a decrease in search costs with an increase in search and price competition. In this talk, I will present the results of several projects that examine actual search behavior on the web using the MediaMetrix panel. The first paper shows that for CD's, books, and air travel, search is fairly limited and that there does not appear to be an increase in search with greater time on the web. A second paper (link on its way) examines the mechanisms that might increase loyalty to specific online merchants.