Welfare implications of personalized pricing in competitive platform markets: The role of network effects

B-Tier
Journal: International Journal of Industrial Organization
Year: 2025
Volume: 103
Issue: PB

Authors (3)

Lu, Qiuyu (not in RePEc) Matsushima, Noriaki (Osaka University) Shekhar, Shiva (not in RePEc)

Score contribution per author:

0.670 = (α=2.01 / 3 authors) × 1.0x B-tier

α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count

Abstract

This study explores the welfare impact of personalized pricing for consumers in a duopolistic two-sided market, with consumers single-homing and developers affiliating with a platform according to their outside option. Personalized pricing, which is private in nature, cannot influence expectations regarding the network sizes, inducing the platforms to offer lower participation fees for developers. Those lower fees increase network benefits for consumers, allowing the platforms to exploit these benefits through personalized pricing. Personalized prices are higher when the network value for developers is high, benefiting competing platforms at the expense of consumers. These findings offer policy insights on personalized pricing.

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:eee:indorg:v:103:y:2025:i:pb:s0167718725000669
Journal Field
Industrial Organization
Author Count
3
Added to Database
2026-01-25