IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jeborg/v195y2022icp335-358.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Fixed price equilibria on peer‐to‐peer platforms: Lessons from time‐based currencies

Author

Listed:
  • Buechel, Berno
  • Krähenmann, Philemon

Abstract

There are many online platforms for peer-to-peer exchange that introduce a platform-specific currency and fix prices to some extent. We model such platforms as pure exchange economies and characterize all fixed price equilibria. We demonstrate the inherent inefficiency following from the combination of fixed prices and voluntary trade and show that simple additional Pareto improving trades exist. While our theoretical analysis predicts that fixed prices lead to less trade than competitive prices, we also discuss some potential advantages of price restrictions, in particular, with respect to simplicity and fairness considerations. Strikingly, it is not those agents with the most attractive goods who have the highest willingness to participate in a fixed price platform. In an empirical illustration, we explore how these theoretical insights unfold in reality by describing patterns of several platforms covering around 100k transactions. This work is informative for the market design of peer-to-peer platforms and for markets with price restrictions more generally.

Suggested Citation

  • Buechel, Berno & Krähenmann, Philemon, 2022. "Fixed price equilibria on peer‐to‐peer platforms: Lessons from time‐based currencies," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 195(C), pages 335-358.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jeborg:v:195:y:2022:i:c:p:335-358
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jebo.2022.01.013
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0167268122000191
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jebo.2022.01.013?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. Liran Einav & Chiara Farronato & Jonathan Levin, 2016. "Peer-to-Peer Markets," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 8(1), pages 615-635, October.
    2. Roland Bénabou & Jean Tirole, 2006. "Belief in a Just World and Redistributive Politics," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 121(2), pages 699-746.
    3. Alberto Alesina & George-Marios Angeletos, 2005. "Fairness and Redistribution," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 95(4), pages 960-980, September.
    4. Abdulkadiroglu, Atila & Sonmez, Tayfun, 1999. "House Allocation with Existing Tenants," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 88(2), pages 233-260, October.
    5. Jean-Charles Rochet & Jean Tirole, 2003. "Platform Competition in Two-Sided Markets," Journal of the European Economic Association, MIT Press, vol. 1(4), pages 990-1029, June.
    6. Matthew O. Jackson & Tomas Rodriguez-Barraquer & Xu Tan, 2012. "Social Capital and Social Quilts: Network Patterns of Favor Exchange," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 102(5), pages 1857-1897, August.
    7. Maskin, Eric S. & Tirole, Jean, 1984. "On the efficiency of fixed price equilibrium," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 32(2), pages 317-327, April.
    8. Corominas-Bosch, Margarida, 2004. "Bargaining in a network of buyers and sellers," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 115(1), pages 35-77, March.
    9. Herings, P. Jean-Jacques & Konovalov, Alexander, 2009. "Constrained suboptimality when prices are non-competitive," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 45(1-2), pages 43-58, January.
    10. Shapley, Lloyd & Scarf, Herbert, 1974. "On cores and indivisibility," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 1(1), pages 23-37, March.
    11. Sweeney, Joan & Sweeney, Richard James, 1977. "Monetary Theory and the Great Capitol Hill Baby Sitting Co-op Crisis: Comment," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 9(1), pages 86-89, February.
    12. Tommy Andersson & Ágnes Cseh & Lars Ehlers & Albin Erlanson, 2021. "Organizing Time Exchanges: Lessons from Matching Markets," American Economic Journal: Microeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 13(1), pages 338-373, February.
    13. Gill Seyfang, 2003. "Growing cohesive communities one favour at a time: social exclusion, active citizenship and time banks," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(3), pages 699-706, September.
    14. Rachel E. Kranton & Deborah F. Minehart, 2001. "A Theory of Buyer-Seller Networks," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 91(3), pages 485-508, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Herings, P. Jean-Jacques, 2018. "Equilibrium and matching under price controls," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 177(C), pages 222-244.
    2. Bloch, Francis & Dutta, Bhaskar & Manea, Mihai, 2019. "Efficient partnership formation in networks," Theoretical Economics, Econometric Society, vol. 14(3), July.
    3. Donna, Javier D. & Schenone, Pablo & Veramendi, Gregory F., 2020. "Networks, frictions, and price dispersion," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 124(C), pages 406-431.
    4. Matthew Elliott & Arun Chandrasekhar & Attila Ambrus, 2015. "Social Investments, Informal Risk Sharing, and Inequality," 2015 Meeting Papers 189, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    5. Balbuzanov, Ivan & Kotowski, Maciej, 2019. "The Property Rights Theory of Production Networks," Working Paper Series rwp19-033, Harvard University, John F. Kennedy School of Government.
    6. Attila Ambrus & Arun G. Chandrasekhar & Matt Elliott, 2014. "Social Investments, Informal Risk Sharing, and Inequality," NBER Working Papers 20669, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. Charlson, G., 2020. "Searching for Results: Optimal Platform Design in a Network Setting," Cambridge Working Papers in Economics 20118, Faculty of Economics, University of Cambridge.
    8. Francis Bloch & Bhaskar Dutta & Mihai Manea, 2019. "Efficient Partnership Formation In Networks," Working Papers 1014, Ashoka University, Department of Economics.
    9. Alvin E. Roth & Tayfun Sönmez & M. Utku Ünver, 2004. "Kidney Exchange," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 119(2), pages 457-488.
    10. Can, Burak & Pourpouneh, Mohsen & Storcken, Ton, 2017. "Cost of transformation: a measure on matchings," Research Memorandum 015, Maastricht University, Graduate School of Business and Economics (GSBE).
    11. Scott Duke Kominers & Alexander Teytelboym & Vincent P Crawford, 2017. "An invitation to market design," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 33(4), pages 541-571.
    12. Gabrieli, Tommaso, 2007. "Beliefs And Redistributive Politics Under Incomplete Information," Economic Research Papers 269770, University of Warwick - Department of Economics.
    13. Alcalde-Unzu, Jorge & Molis, Elena, 2011. "Exchange of indivisible goods and indifferences: The Top Trading Absorbing Sets mechanisms," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 73(1), pages 1-16, September.
    14. Sylvain Mignot & Stéphanie Saba & Annick Vignes, 2016. "To trust or to bid: an empirical analysis of social relationships on a fish market," Working Papers halshs-01298872, HAL.
    15. Zhang, Yingqiang & Eriksson, Tor, 2010. "Inequality of opportunity and income inequality in nine Chinese provinces, 1989-2006," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 21(4), pages 607-616, December.
    16. Zhiwei Cui & Yan-An Hwang, 2017. "House exchange and residential segregation in networks," International Journal of Game Theory, Springer;Game Theory Society, vol. 46(1), pages 125-147, March.
    17. Ooghe, Erwin & Peichl, Andreas, 2010. "Fair and Efficient Taxation under Partial Control: Theory and Evidence," IZA Discussion Papers 5388, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    18. Meier, Volker & Schiopu, Ioana, 2020. "Enrollment expansion and quality differentiation across higher education systems," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 90(C), pages 43-53.
    19. Francis Bloch & Bhaskar Dutta & Stéphane Robin & Min Zhu, 2016. "The formation of partnerships in social networks," Post-Print halshs-01421347, HAL.
    20. Guido Tabellini, 2007. "The Scope of Cooperation: Norms and Incentives," Levine's Working Paper Archive 321307000000000866, David K. Levine.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Platforms; P2P; Non-competitive prices; Welfare; Walrasian equilibrium; Networks;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D51 - Microeconomics - - General Equilibrium and Disequilibrium - - - Exchange and Production Economies
    • D61 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Allocative Efficiency; Cost-Benefit Analysis
    • D63 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement
    • L14 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Transactional Relationships; Contracts and Reputation

    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:jeborg:v:195:y:2022:i:c:p:335-358. 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/jebo .

    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.