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Facilitating the Search for Partners on Matching Platforms

Author

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  • Yash Kanoria

    (Decision, Risk and Operations Division, Columbia Business School, New York, New York 10027)

  • Daniela Saban

    (Operations, Information and Technology, Stanford Graduate School of Business, Stanford, California 94305)

Abstract

Two-sided matching platforms can control and optimize over many aspects of the search for partners. To understand how matching platforms should be designed, we introduce a dynamic two-sided search model with strategic agents who must bear a cost to discover their value for each potential partner and can do so nonsimultaneously. We characterize evolutionarily stable stationary equilibria and find that, in many settings, the platform can mitigate wasted search effort by imposing suitable restrictions on agents. In unbalanced markets, the platform should force the short side of the market to initiate contact with potential partners, by disallowing the long side from doing so. This allows the agents on the long side to exercise more choice in equilibrium. When agents are vertically differentiated, the platform can significantly improve welfare even in the limit of vanishing screening costs by forcing the shorter side of the market to propose and by hiding information about the quality of potential partners. Furthermore, a Pareto improvement in welfare is possible in this limit.

Suggested Citation

  • Yash Kanoria & Daniela Saban, 2021. "Facilitating the Search for Partners on Matching Platforms," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 67(10), pages 5990-6029, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:inm:ormnsc:v:67:y:2021:i:10:p:5990-6029
    DOI: 10.1287/mnsc.2020.3794
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Jaehwuen Jung & Hyungsoo Lim & Dongwon Lee & Chul Kim, 2022. "The Secret to Finding a Match: A Field Experiment on Choice Capacity Design in an Online Dating Platform," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 33(4), pages 1248-1263, December.
    2. Nicole Immorlica & Brendan Lucier & Vahideh Manshadi & Alexander Wei, 2023. "Designing Approximately Optimal Search on Matching Platforms," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 69(8), pages 4609-4626, August.
    3. Ali Aouad & Daniela Saban, 2023. "Online Assortment Optimization for Two-Sided Matching Platforms," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 69(4), pages 2069-2087, April.
    4. Peng Shi, 2023. "Optimal Matchmaking Strategy in Two-Sided Marketplaces," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 69(3), pages 1323-1340, March.
    5. Yunke Mai & Bin Hu & Saša Pekeč, 2023. "Courteous or Crude? Managing User Conduct to Improve On-Demand Service Platform Performance," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 69(2), pages 996-1016, February.

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