【文章內容簡介】 of the type of broker listing arrangement used by the seller. In a study of the residential market, Jud (1983) estimates the demand for real estate brokerage services. Using housing transactions data from three urban areas in North Carolina, Jud finds that brokers do not affect the prices of the houses which they sell, although they do appear to influence the level of housing consumed by buyers. In a subsequent study, Jud and Frew (1986), using different data, find that brokers do obtain higher prices for the homes they sell. Evidence is also presented 4 that brokerassisted buyers have a greater demand for houses than their nonbrokerassisted counterparts. Their results lead them to conclude that broker intermediation has an effect analogous to that of advertising in markets with imperfect information. More recent research by Turnbull and Sirmans (1993) examines the extent to which differences in information and search costs are related in housing prices. Using data from the Baton Rouge market area, Turnbull and Sirmans pare the prices paid by firsttime and outoftown buyers to the prices paid for parable housing by more knowledgeable, local and repeat homebuyers. Their results indicate that home prices are similar across buyers with different information sets and search Costs. Since these were all brokerassisted transactions, Tarnbull and Sirmans conclude that existing brokerage institutions, such as the MLS, successfully eliminate the potential price effects of asymmetric information and, thereby, improve the efficiency of the housing market. It isnot possible, however, to determine from this study whether price differences exist between brokerassisted and nonbrokerassisted transactions. Although selling prices are not pared, a study by Baryla and Zumpano (1995), for the first time, uses a national sample of brokerassisted and nonbroker sales transactionsto assess the impact of intermediation by the agent on search effort. This study indicates that information asymmetries are present in the residential real estate market and that intermediation by agents does affect buyer search efforts. Firsttime buyers and outoftown buyers search longer than more experienced and local home buyers. Equally important, real estate brokers are able to reduce search time for virtually all classes of consumers, whether firsttime, experienced, local, or outoftown buyers. A followup study by Baryla, Zumpano, and Elder (1995) finds that the mechanism by which agents reduce buyer search duration is an increase in search intensity. Having more market access and housing information than buyers working without brokers, brokerassisted consumers are able to visit more homes during a given period of time. These results suggest that buyers with high information and search costs are more likely to seek out the services of real estate brokers. Whether this implication is true, and what effect such a search decision has on selling price, however, remains to be seen. The next logical step, therefore, is to examine this choice and its consequent effect on home prices. Data and methodology This study uses data from a nationwide survey of home buyers conducted by the 5 National Association of Realtors in 1987. The survey, The Home Buying and Selling Process, was mailed to over 30,000 households. After