Competition and Defaults in Online Search

Francesco Decarolis, Muxin Li and Filippo Paternollo

American Economic Journal: Microeconomics, 2025, vol. 17, issue 3, 369-414

Abstract: This paper offers the first systematic quantitative assessment of default-option interventions designed to mitigate Google's search dominance. By analyzing interventions in the European Economic Area (EEA), Russia, and Turkey, we find that across all three cases, changes to default settings effectively reduced Google's market share. The causal impact amounts to less than 1 percentage point in the EEA and over 10 percentage points in Russia and Turkey. Differences arise from intervention nuances, including the size of the targeted users' group, local market characteristics, and remedy designs. We discuss the complexity of assessing the interventions' impact on welfare deriving from quality responses.

JEL-codes: G34 K21 L13 L82 O14 P31 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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DOI: 10.1257/mic.20230193

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