Introduction
E-commerce is gaining popularity at a very high pace. The convenience of online shopping is changing the way consumers and firms interact in markets. For example, while years ago it would be unconcievable that people buy cars online, nowsadays more and more car sales occur through this channel.
Online platforms such as Expedia, Booking or Orbitz have become central marketplaces where hotels, tour operators and airlines make offers and people book their business and vacation trips. They are remunerated through commissions. Amazon started re-selling books online but has become a major hypermarket where virtually anything can be found thanks to the fact that they also perform a matchmaking role.
Large network externalities accompanied by low transaction costs are making platforms the marketplaces of choice, to the extent that authorities have started to get worried about dominance. The EU and the US regulators are now paying attention to the economic role of online platforms and the potential policy concerns. In May 2015 the European Commission published the Digital Single Market strategy and in September 2015 it launched a public consultation to assess the concerns around platforms (including biased search rankings, price parity clauses, data privacy and data trading, etc.) In this workshop some of these concerns will be discussed.
Program ( Please click here for a printer-friendly version)
11:30-12:30
Julian Wright (National University of Singapore)/Chengsi Wang — Search Platform: Showrooming and price parity clauses
Discussant: Jose L. Moraga (VU University Amsterdam)
12:30-13:00 Lunch break
13:00-13:45
Andras Kiss (University of Amsterdam)— Platform Competition with Price-Ordered Search
Discussant: Bo Hu (VU University Amsterdam)
13:45-14:30
Pieter Gautier/Bo Hu/Makoto Watanabe (VU University Amsterdam) — Marketmaking middlemen
Discussant: Chengsi Wang (University of Mannheim, Germany)
14:30-15:00 Coffee break
15:00-15:45
David Ronayne (University of Warwick, United Kingdom) — Price Comparison Websites
Discussant (t.b.a.)
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