Leaving Money on the Dashboard: Price Dispersion and Search Frictions on Uber and Lyft

Jeffrey Fossett, Michael Luca and Yejia Xu

No 34441, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: We document price differences for identical trips on Uber and Lyft, based on an audit of the two platforms. While price dispersion exists in the market, device-level data show that only 16.1 percent of consumers opening one app also open the other. Our estimates suggest that the modest frictions involved in comparison shopping increase platforms’ gross booking volume by over $300 million annually in New York City alone. While price-comparison engines could in principle reduce frictions, Uber’s API terms of use limit such services, reducing riders’ ability to price compare.

JEL-codes: D0 D40 D80 D83 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025-11
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