Abstract
This article draws on the neoclassical theory of consumer choice and the theory of bounded rationality to model digital information influence within the utility-generation process as a preference shifter. The framework introduces information-adjusted expenditure as a function of the information acceptance coefficient, a novel theoretical construct capturing the direction and magnitude of digital information's impact on utility. A key contribution of this extension to the neoclassical framework is a formal transmission mechanism that disentangles digital information's impact on optimal expenditure into a noncompetitive pricing effect and a compensated utility effect. Using survey data from the US and Chinese domestic tourism sectors, we provide evidence of an association between higher digital information influence and redistribution of economic surpluses toward firms, likely via information-based noncompetitive pricing strategies. This finding is consistent across the expenditure distribution and more pronounced among median spenders. Our results imply that although digital platforms may increase economic surpluses by reducing information asymmetry, the distribution of these surpluses depends on participants' measurable responses.