Platforms

What's in the Box? The Effect of Self-Preferencing on Amazon

We examine self-preferencing in Amazon's 'Similar item to consider' box. We document a stark difference across domains; while Amazon frequently recommends alternatives to Amazon Basics (AB) products on the US website, it systematically suppresses …

The Cost of the Cold-Start Problem on Airbnb

On platforms with peer-to-peer reviews, new products encounter the so-called "cold-start" problem. Little-known products are bought too rarely and remain little known. This paper studies how policies aimed at mitigating the cold-start problem, …

Amazon Entry on Amazon Marketplace

We want to find out whether the concern of seller and consumer harm as a result of Amazon entry finds emprical support beyond anecdotal evidence provided by the media. To this end, we measure the predictors and effects of Amazon first-party retail entry on consumer and third-party merchant outcomes in the Home & Kitchen department of Germany’s Marketplace between 2016 and 2021. While the empirical setting presented challenges for estimating causal effects, our results are broadly inconsistent with systematic adverse effects of Amazon entry on Amazon Marketplace.