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The Economics of Crowdfunding

Author

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  • Jen-Wen Chang

Abstract

An entrepreneur finances her project via crowdfunding. She chooses a funding mechanism (fixed or flexible), a price, and a funding goal. Under fixed funding, money is refunded if the goal is not met; under flexible funding, there is no refund. Backers observe signals about project value and decide whether to contribute or postpone purchase to the retail stage. Using the linkage principle, we show that the optimal campaign uses fixed funding. Furthermore, we show that an entrepreneur who is not financially constrained can approximately extract full surplus using fixed funding. Therefore, crowdfunding is attractive to both small and large entrepreneurs.

Suggested Citation

  • Jen-Wen Chang, 2020. "The Economics of Crowdfunding," American Economic Journal: Microeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 12(2), pages 257-280, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:aea:aejmic:v:12:y:2020:i:2:p:257-80
    DOI: 10.1257/mic.20170183
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Benedetti, Hugo & Kostovetsky, Leonard, 2021. "Digital Tulips? Returns to investors in initial coin offerings," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    2. Panjwani, Aniket & Xiong, Heyu, 2023. "The causes and consequences of medical crowdfunding," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 205(C), pages 648-667.
    3. Joyee Deb & Aniko Oery & Kevin R. Williams, 2018. "Aiming for the Goal: Contribution Dynamics of Crowdfunding," Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers 2149R2, Cowles Foundation for Research in Economics, Yale University, revised Feb 2023.
    4. Christian Handke & Carolina Dalla Chiesa, 2022. "The art of crowdfunding arts and innovation: the cultural economic perspective," Journal of Cultural Economics, Springer;The Association for Cultural Economics International, vol. 46(2), pages 249-284, June.
    5. Lin, Tse-Chun & Pursiainen, Vesa, 2022. "Regional social capital and moral hazard in crowdfunding," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 37(4).
    6. Meijian Yang & Enjun Xia, 2021. "A Systematic Literature Review on Pricing Strategies in the Sharing Economy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(17), pages 1-28, August.
    7. Cheng Lu & Tongyu Gu & Jie Chen & Zunli Liu, 2021. "Will Internet Market Newness Improve Performance? An Empirical Study on the Internet Market Innovation of Offline Retailers in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(22), pages 1-17, November.
    8. Francisca Jiménez-Jiménez & Maria Virtudes Alba-Fernández & Cristina Martínez-Gómez, 2021. "Attracting the Right Crowd under Asymmetric Information: A Game Theory Application to Rewards-Based Crowdfunding," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 9(21), pages 1-23, October.
    9. Joyee Deb & Aniko Oery & Kevin R. Williams, 2018. "Aiming for the Goal: Contribution Dynamics of Crowdfunding," Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers 2149R, Cowles Foundation for Research in Economics, Yale University, revised Jan 2021.
    10. Yuying Gao & Shanyue Jin, 2022. "Corporate Nature, Financial Technology, and Corporate Innovation in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(12), pages 1-22, June.
    11. Eric Tassel, 2023. "Crowdfunding investors, intermediaries and risky entrepreneurs," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 60(3), pages 1033-1050, March.
    12. Xu, Lei & Li, Dahui & Chiu, Chun-Hung & Zhang, Qing & Gao, Runpeng, 2022. "Implications of warm-glow effect and risk aversion in reward-based crowdfunding," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 160(C).
    13. Crosby, Paul & McKenzie, Jordi, 2021. "Should subscription-based content creators display their earnings on crowdfunding platforms? Evidence from Patreon," Journal of Business Venturing Insights, Elsevier, vol. 16(C).
    14. Peter Konhäusner, 2021. "Crowdsourcing in Sustainable Retail—A Theoretical Framework of Success Criteria," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 14(2), pages 1-21, February.
    15. Matthew Ellman & Michele Fabi, 2022. "A Theory of Crowdfunding Dynamics," Working Papers 1349, Barcelona School of Economics.
    16. Xu, Yang & Zhou, Qiang & Wang, Xu, 2023. "Joint price and quality optimization strategy in crowdfunding campaign," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 263(C).
    17. Shixian Ling & Guosheng Han & Dong An & Armigon Akhmedov & Hui Wang & Hui Li & William Cannon Hunter, 2020. "The Effects of Financing Channels on Enterprise Innovation and Life Cycle in Chinese A-Share Listed Companies: An Empirical Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(17), pages 1-22, August.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D26 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Crowd-Based Firms
    • D82 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Asymmetric and Private Information; Mechanism Design
    • G32 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Financing Policy; Financial Risk and Risk Management; Capital and Ownership Structure; Value of Firms; Goodwill
    • L26 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Entrepreneurship

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