IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ecolec/v132y2017icp135-143.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Does Craigslist Reduce Waste? Evidence from California and Florida

Author

Listed:
  • Fremstad, Anders

Abstract

There is much discussion but little research on the environmental impacts of online platforms associated with the sharing economy. Economic theory suggests that falling transaction costs in secondhand markets increase incentives for people to exchange rather than discard used goods. This paper uses difference-in-difference methods to estimate Craigslist's effect on solid waste by exploiting a natural experiment in how the platform expanded across California and Florida. The econometric results suggest that Craigslist reduced daily per capita solid waste generation by about one third of a pound, though the estimates are not very precise. A plausibility analysis of the weight of items posted on Craigslist concludes that the 200 million annual for-sale posts created by Californians and Floridians can reasonably account for waste reductions of roughly this magnitude.

Suggested Citation

  • Fremstad, Anders, 2017. "Does Craigslist Reduce Waste? Evidence from California and Florida," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 132(C), pages 135-143.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecolec:v:132:y:2017:i:c:p:135-143
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolecon.2016.10.018
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0921800916305821
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2016.10.018?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Anders Fremstad, 2016. "Sticky Norms, Endogenous Preferences, and Shareable Goods," Review of Social Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 74(2), pages 194-214, June.
    2. Martin, Chris J., 2016. "The sharing economy: A pathway to sustainability or a nightmarish form of neoliberal capitalism?," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 121(C), pages 149-159.
    3. Liran Einav & Chiara Farronato & Jonathan Levin, 2016. "Peer-to-Peer Markets," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 8(1), pages 615-635, October.
    4. Alessandro Gavazza & Alessandro Lizzeri & Nikita Roketskiy, 2014. "A Quantitative Analysis of the Used-Car Market," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 104(11), pages 3668-3700, November.
    5. Cecere, Grazia & Mancinelli, Susanna & Mazzanti, Massimiliano, 2014. "Waste prevention and social preferences: the role of intrinsic and extrinsic motivations," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 107(C), pages 163-176.
    6. Alexandre Belloni & Victor Chernozhukov & Christian Hansen, 2014. "Inference on Treatment Effects after Selection among High-Dimensional Controlsâ€," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 81(2), pages 608-650.
    7. Kory Kroft & Devin G. Pope, 2014. "Does Online Search Crowd Out Traditional Search and Improve Matching Efficiency? Evidence from Craigslist," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 32(2), pages 259-303.
    8. Rapson, David & Schiraldi, Pasquale, 2013. "Internet and the efficiency of decentralized markets: Evidence from automobiles," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 121(2), pages 232-235.
    9. Mazzanti, Massimiliano & Zoboli, Roberto, 2006. "Economic instruments and induced innovation: The European policies on end-of-life vehicles," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 58(2), pages 318-337, June.
    10. Li, Shanjun & Linn, Joshua & Spiller, Elisheba, 2013. "Evaluating “Cash-for-Clunkers”: Program effects on auto sales and the environment," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 65(2), pages 175-193.
    11. Sjöström, Magnus & Östblom, Göran, 2010. "Decoupling waste generation from economic growth -- A CGE analysis of the Swedish case," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(7), pages 1545-1552, May.
    12. Shafik, Nemat & Bandyopadhyay, Sushenjit, 1992. "Economic growth and environmental quality : time series and cross-country evidence," Policy Research Working Paper Series 904, The World Bank.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Suvrat Dhanorkar & Suresh Muthulingam, 2020. "Do E‐Waste Laws Create Behavioral Spillovers? Quasi‐Experimental Evidence from California," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 29(7), pages 1738-1766, July.
    2. Dan Wang & Liang Yan & Fangli Ruan, 2022. "A Combined IO-DEMATEL Analysis for Evaluating Sustainable Effects of the Sharing Related Industries Development," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-23, May.
    3. Yudhistira, Muhammad Halley & Karimah, Indra Degree & Maghfira, Nadya Rahmi, 2022. "The effect of port development on coastal water quality: Evidence of eutrophication states in Indonesia," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 196(C).
    4. Tina Ringenson & Mattias Höjer & Anna Kramers & Anna Viggedal, 2018. "Digitalization and Environmental Aims in Municipalities," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(4), pages 1-16, April.
    5. Wei, Xiaoyong & Lo, Chris.K.Y. & Jung, Sojin & Choi, Tsan-Ming, 2021. "From co-consumption to co-production: A systematic review and research synthesis of collaborative consumption practices," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 129(C), pages 282-294.
    6. Andrei Boar & Ramon Bastida & Frederic Marimon, 2020. "A Systematic Literature Review. Relationships between the Sharing Economy, Sustainability and Sustainable Development Goals," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(17), pages 1-14, August.
    7. V. M. Gil’mundinov & T. O. Tagaeva & A. I. Boksler, 2020. "Analysis and Forecasting of Waste Management Processes in Russia," Studies on Russian Economic Development, Springer, vol. 31(1), pages 92-98, January.
    8. Akbari, Morteza & Foroudi, Pantea & Khodayari, Maryam & Zaman Fashami, Rahime & Shahabaldini parizi, Zahra & Shahriari, Elmira, 2022. "Sharing Your Assets: A Holistic Review of Sharing Economy," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 140(C), pages 604-625.
    9. Davlembayeva, Dinara & Papagiannidis, Savvas & Alamanos, Eleftherios, 2020. "Sharing economy: Studying the social and psychological factors and the outcomes of social exchange," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 158(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Karl Taeuscher, 2019. "Uncertainty kills the long tail: demand concentration in peer-to-peer marketplaces," Electronic Markets, Springer;IIM University of St. Gallen, vol. 29(4), pages 649-660, December.
    2. Kyle Barron & Edward Kung & Davide Proserpio, 2021. "The Effect of Home-Sharing on House Prices and Rents: Evidence from Airbnb," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 40(1), pages 23-47, January.
    3. Suvrat Dhanorkar & Suresh Muthulingam, 2020. "Do E‐Waste Laws Create Behavioral Spillovers? Quasi‐Experimental Evidence from California," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 29(7), pages 1738-1766, July.
    4. Guangling Zhang & Liying Wang & Pengfei Shi, 2019. "Research on Sharing Intention Formation Mechanism Based on the Burden of Ownership and Fashion Consciousness," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(4), pages 1-15, February.
    5. Laurel Wheeler & Robert Garlick & Eric Johnson & Patrick Shaw & Marissa Gargano, 2022. "LinkedIn(to) Job Opportunities: Experimental Evidence from Job Readiness Training," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 14(2), pages 101-125, April.
    6. Sutherland, Will & Jarrahi, Mohammad Hossein, 2018. "The sharing economy and digital platforms: A review and research agenda," International Journal of Information Management, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 328-341.
    7. Gérard P. Cachon & Kaitlin M. Daniels & Ruben Lobel, 2017. "The Role of Surge Pricing on a Service Platform with Self-Scheduling Capacity," Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, INFORMS, vol. 19(3), pages 368-384, July.
    8. Feng Deng, 2019. "The sharing economy and urban property rights," Asia-Pacific Journal of Regional Science, Springer, vol. 3(1), pages 121-136, February.
    9. Apostolos Filippas & John J. Horton & Richard J. Zeckhauser, 2020. "Owning, Using, and Renting: Some Simple Economics of the “Sharing Economy”," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 66(9), pages 4152-4172, September.
    10. Morales-Alonso, Gustavo & Núñez, Yilsy M., 2022. "Dragging on multilisting: The reason why home-sharing platforms make long-term rental prices increase and how to fix it," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 174(C).
    11. Cristiano Codagnone & Federico Biagi & Fabienne Abadie, 2016. "The Passions and the Interests: Unpacking the ‘Sharing Economy’," JRC Research Reports JRC101279, Joint Research Centre.
    12. Valentin Clemens & Christopher Albert Sabel & Johann Nils Foege & Stephan Nüesch, 2022. "System Design Choice in the Sharing Economy: How Different Institutional Logics Drive Consumer Perception and Consumers’ Intention to Use Sharing Systems," Schmalenbach Journal of Business Research, Springer, vol. 74(2), pages 201-234, June.
    13. Murillo, David & Buckland, Heloise & Val, Esther, 2017. "When the sharing economy becomes neoliberalism on steroids: Unravelling the controversies," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 125(C), pages 66-76.
    14. Ruggero Sainaghi & Mehmet Ali Köseoglu & Fuad Mehraliyev, 2021. "The intellectual structure of the sharing economy," Tourism Economics, , vol. 27(5), pages 1137-1156, August.
    15. Shahbaz, Muhammad & Hoang, Thi Hong Van & Mahalik, Mantu Kumar & Roubaud, David, 2017. "Energy consumption, financial development and economic growth in India: New evidence from a nonlinear and asymmetric analysis," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 199-212.
    16. Küper, Inken & Edinger-Schons, Laura Marie, 2020. "Is sharing up for sale? Monetary exchanges in the sharing economy," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 121(C), pages 223-234.
    17. Alexandre Belloni & Victor Chernozhukov & Kengo Kato, 2019. "Valid Post-Selection Inference in High-Dimensional Approximately Sparse Quantile Regression Models," Journal of the American Statistical Association, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 114(526), pages 749-758, April.
    18. Vitaliy Roud & Thomas Wolfgang Thurner, 2018. "The Influence of State‐Ownership on Eco‐Innovations in Russian Manufacturing Firms," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 22(5), pages 1213-1227, October.
    19. Sant’Anna, Pedro H.C. & Zhao, Jun, 2020. "Doubly robust difference-in-differences estimators," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 219(1), pages 101-122.
    20. Honma, Satoshi, 2012. "Environmental and economic efficiencies in the Asia-Pacific region," MPRA Paper 43361, University Library of Munich, Germany.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Transaction costs; Solid waste; Sharing economy;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D1 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior
    • D23 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Organizational Behavior; Transaction Costs; Property Rights
    • Q53 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Air Pollution; Water Pollution; Noise; Hazardous Waste; Solid Waste; Recycling

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:ecolec:v:132:y:2017:i:c:p:135-143. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/ecolecon .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.