Match Quality, Search, and the Internet Market for Used Books

Glenn Ellison () and Sara Fisher Ellison

No 24197, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: This paper examines the effect of the Internet on markets in which match-quality is important, including an analysis of the market for used books. A model in which sellers of unusual objects wait for high-value buyers to arrive brings out match quality and competition effects through which improved search technologies may increase both price dispersion and social welfare. A reduced-form empirical analysis finds support for a number of more nuanced predictions of the model in the context of the used book market, exploiting both cross-sectional differences across books and time-series differences in the wake of Amazon's acquisition and incorporation of a large used book marketplace. The paper develops a framework for structural estimation of a model based on the theory. The estimates suggest that the shift to Internet sales substantially increased both seller profits and consumer surplus.

JEL-codes: D22 L13 L81 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-com and nep-cul
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (11)

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