Econ Papers Daily / 期刊论文
消费者搜索、企业异质性与平台设计
Consumer Search, Firm Heterogeneity, and Platform Design
摘要
We study the optimal design of a monopoly platform that interacts with heterogeneous firms and consumers who face uncertainty about product values and prices. Consumers search randomly among firms recommended by the platform. The platform designs a menu of contracts tailored to different firm types and allocates consumer visits across these firms. We show that the optimal platform design creates a “superstar effect,” whereby high‐type firms capture a disproportionately large market share, and improves consumer welfare relative to the no‐design benchmark.
中文摘要
我们研究了一个垄断平台的最优设计问题，该平台与异质性企业以及面临产品价值和价格不确定性的消费者进行互动。消费者在平台推荐的企业中进行随机搜索。平台针对不同类型的企业设计了一套定制化合同菜单，并将消费者访问量分配给这些企业。研究表明，最优平台设计会产生“超级明星效应”，即高类型企业获得不成比例的巨大市场份额，并且与无设计基准相比，该设计能够改善消费者福利。