Choice Screen Auctions

S-Tier
Journal: American Economic Review
Year: 2023
Volume: 113
Issue: 9
Pages: 2486-2505

Score contribution per author:

8.043 = (α=2.01 / 1 authors) × 4.0x S-tier

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

Abstract

Choice screen auctions have been recently deployed in 31 European countries, allowing consumers to choose their preferred search engine on Google's Android platform instead of being automatically defaulted to Google's own search engine. I show that a seemingly minor detail in the design of these auctions—whether they are conducted on a "per appearance" or a "per install" basis—plays a major role in the mix and characteristics of auction winners and, consequently, in their expected market share. Furthermore, per install auctions distort search engines' incentives. Empirical evidence from Android choice screen auctions conducted in 2020 is consistent with my theoretical results.

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:aea:aecrev:v:113:y:2023:i:9:p:2486-2505
Journal Field
General
Author Count
1
Added to Database
2026-01-26