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The Expansion of Varieties in the New Age of Advertising

Author

Listed:
  • Baslandze, Salomé
  • Greenwood, Jeremy
  • Marto, Ricardo
  • Moreira, Sara

Abstract

The last decades have seen large improvements in digital advertising technology that allowed firms to target better specific consumer tastes. This research studies the relationship between digital advertising, the rise of varieties, and economic welfare. A model of advertising and varieties is developed, where firms choose the intensity of digital ads directed at specific consumers as well as traditional ads that are undirected. The calibrated model shows that improvements in digital advertising have driven the rise in varieties over time. Empirical evidence is presented using detailed micro data on firms’ products and advertising choices for the 1995-2015 period. Causal analysis using exogenous variation in consumers’ differential access to the internet supports the suggested mechanism.

Suggested Citation

  • Baslandze, Salomé & Greenwood, Jeremy & Marto, Ricardo & Moreira, Sara, 2023. "The Expansion of Varieties in the New Age of Advertising," CEPR Discussion Papers 18470, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    • Handle: RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:18470
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    Cited by:

    1. is not listed on IDEAS
    2. Mathilde Aubouin & Lionel Ragot, 2024. "The Macroeconomics of Free Digital Services," Working Papers hal-04616676, HAL.
    3. Salomé Baslandze & Leo Liu & Elvira Sojli & Wing Wah Tham, 2025. "Foundational Processes and Growth," FRB Atlanta Working Paper 2025-01, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta.
    4. Cavenaile, Laurent & Celik, Murat Alp & Roldan-Blanco, Pau & Tian, Xu, 2025. "Style over substance? Advertising, innovation, and endogenous market structure," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 149(C).
    5. Guy Aridor & Rafael Jiménez-Durán & Ro'ee Levy & Lena Song, 2024. "The Economics of Social Media," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 62(4), pages 1422-1474, December.
    6. Guy Aridor & Yeon-Koo Che & Brett Hollenbeck & Maximilian Kaiser & Daniel McCarthy, 2024. "Evaluating the Impact of Privacy Regulation on E-Commerce Firms: Evidence from Apple’s App Tracking Transparency," CESifo Working Paper Series 10928, CESifo.
    7. Cong, Lin William & Li, Siguang, 2024. "Influencer marketing and product competition," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 220(C).

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • E13 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - General Aggregative Models - - - Neoclassical
    • L15 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Information and Product Quality
    • I31 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - General Welfare, Well-Being
    • M37 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Marketing and Advertising - - - Advertising
    • O14 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Industrialization; Manufacturing and Service Industries; Choice of Technology
    • O31 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Innovation and Invention: Processes and Incentives

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