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How to Avoid Black Markets for Appointments with Online Booking Systems

Author

Listed:
  • Hakimov, Rustamdjan

    (University of Lausanne)

  • Heller, Christian-Philipp

    (NERA Consulting)

  • Kübler, Dorothea

    (WZB Berlin)

  • Kurino, Morimitsu

    (Keio University Tokyo)

Abstract

Allocating appointment slots is presented as a new application for market design. We consider online booking systems that are commonly used by public authorities to allocate appointments for driver's licenses, visa interviews, passport renewals, etc. We document that black markets for appointments have developed in many parts of the world. Scalpers book the appointments that are offered for free and sell the slots to appointment seekers. We model the existing first-come-first-served booking system and propose an alternative system. The alternative system collects applications for slots for a certain time period and then randomly allocates slots to applicants. We investigate the two systems under conditions of low and high demand for slots. The theory predicts and lab experiments confirm that scalpers profitably book and sell slots under the current system with high demand, but that they are not active in the proposed new system under both demand conditions.

Suggested Citation

  • Hakimov, Rustamdjan & Heller, Christian-Philipp & Kübler, Dorothea & Kurino, Morimitsu, 2019. "How to Avoid Black Markets for Appointments with Online Booking Systems," Rationality and Competition Discussion Paper Series 179, CRC TRR 190 Rationality and Competition.
    • Handle: RePEc:rco:dpaper:179
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    Cited by:

    1. Kim, Jaehong & Li, Mengling & Xu, Menghan, 2025. "Priority search with outside options," Theoretical Economics, Econometric Society, vol. 20(3), July.
    2. Dorothea Kübler, 2021. "Marktdesign und die Verteilung von Impfstoff," Wirtschaftsdienst, Springer;ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 101(8), pages 597-600, August.
    3. Laura Derksen & Jason T Kerwin & Natalia Ordaz Reynoso & Olivier Sterck, 2025. "Healthcare Appointments as Commitment Devices," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 135(665), pages 81-118.
    4. Lingbo Huang & Tracy Xiao Liu & Jun Zhang, 2023. "Born to wait? A study on allocation rules in booking systems," Discussion Papers 2023-04, The Centre for Decision Research and Experimental Economics, School of Economics, University of Nottingham.
    5. Derksen, Laura & Kerwin, Jason Theodore & Reynoso, Natalia Ordaz & Sterck, Olivier, 2021. "Appointments: A More Effective Commitment Device for Health Behaviors," SocArXiv y8gh7, Center for Open Science.
    6. Atayev, Atabek & Caspari, Gian & Hillenbrand, Adrian & Klein, Thilo, 2023. "Tapping into people's impatience for better environmental subsidies," ZEW policy briefs 04/2023, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    7. Rustamdjan Hakimov & C.-Philipp Heller & Dorothea Kübler & Morimitsu Kurino, 2021. "How to Avoid Black Markets for Appointments with Online Booking Systems," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 111(7), pages 2127-2151, July.
    8. Nikhil Agarwal & Eric Budish, 2021. "Market Design," NBER Working Papers 29367, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    9. repec:osf:socarx:y8gh7_v1 is not listed on IDEAS
    10. Hakimov, Rustamdjan & Kübler, Dorothea, 2021. "Experiments on centralized school choice and college admissions: a survey," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 24(2), pages 434-488.
    11. Eric Budish & Judd B. Kessler, 2022. "Can Market Participants Report Their Preferences Accurately (Enough)?," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 68(2), pages 1107-1130, February.

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    Keywords

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    JEL classification:

    • C92 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Laboratory, Group Behavior
    • D47 - Microeconomics - - Market Structure, Pricing, and Design - - - Market Design

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