IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/bon/boncrc/crctr224_2024_584.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The Economic Theory of Two-Sided Platforms

Author

Listed:
  • Martin Peitz

Abstract

In this chapter, I review the economic theory of two-sided platforms. First, I elaborate on the prevailing price structure in monopoly and oligopoly and explore the prevailing market structure. Second, I consider the choice of non-price strategies that affect users on the platform and address the horizontal and vertical scope of platforms.

Suggested Citation

  • Martin Peitz, 2024. "The Economic Theory of Two-Sided Platforms," CRC TR 224 Discussion Paper Series crctr224_2024_584, University of Bonn and University of Mannheim, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:bon:boncrc:crctr224_2024_584
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.crctr224.de/research/discussion-papers/archive/dp584
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Paul Belleflamme & Eric Toulemonde, 2009. "Negative Intra-Group Externalities In Two-Sided Markets," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 50(1), pages 245-272, February.
    2. Amelio, Andrea & Jullien, Bruno, 2012. "Tying and freebies in two-sided markets," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 30(5), pages 436-446.
    3. Daniele Condorelli & Jorge Padilla, 2024. "Data-Driven Envelopment with Privacy-Policy Tying," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 134(658), pages 515-537.
    4. Yannis Bakos & Hanna Halaburda, 2020. "Platform Competition with Multihoming on Both Sides: Subsidize or Not?," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 66(12), pages 5599-5607, December.
    5. E. Glen Weyl, 2010. "A Price Theory of Multi-sided Platforms," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 100(4), pages 1642-1672, September.
    6. Fumagalli, Chiara & Motta, Massimo, 2020. "Tying in evolving industries, when future entry cannot be deterred," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    7. Belleflamme, Paul & Peitz, Martin, 2021. "The Economics of Platforms : Concepts and Strategy," LIDAM Reprints CORE 3185, Université catholique de Louvain, Center for Operations Research and Econometrics (CORE).
    8. Jacopo Gambato & Martin Peitz, 2023. "Platform-Enabled Information Disclosure," CRC TR 224 Discussion Paper Series crctr224_2023_468, University of Bonn and University of Mannheim, Germany.
    9. Choi, Jay Pil & Jeon, Doh-Shin & Whinston, Michael D., 2024. "Tying with Network Effects," CEPR Discussion Papers 19076, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    10. Michael Dinerstein & Liran Einav & Jonathan Levin & Neel Sundaresan, 2018. "Consumer Price Search and Platform Design in Internet Commerce," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 108(7), pages 1820-1859, July.
    11. Belleflamme, Paul & Peitz, Martin, 2019. "Price disclosure by two-sided platforms," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).
    12. Bruno Jullien & Alessandro Pavan, 2019. "Information Management and Pricing in Platform Markets," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 86(4), pages 1666-1703.
    13. Etro, Federico, 2023. "Platform competition with free entry of sellers," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    14. Attila Ambrus & Emilio Calvano & Markus Reisinger, 2016. "Either or Both Competition: A "Two-Sided" Theory of Advertising with Overlapping Viewerships," American Economic Journal: Microeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 8(3), pages 189-222, August.
    15. Andrei Hagiu & Tat‐How Teh & Julian Wright, 2022. "Should platforms be allowed to sell on their own marketplaces?," RAND Journal of Economics, RAND Corporation, vol. 53(2), pages 297-327, June.
    16. Etro, Federico, 2021. "Device-funded vs ad-funded platforms," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    17. Carlotta Mariotto & Marianne Verdier, 2020. "Platform–merchant competition for sales services," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(4), pages 834-853, October.
    18. Jay Pil Choi & Doh-Shin Jeon, 2021. "A Leverage Theory of Tying in Two-Sided Markets with Nonnegative Price Constraints," American Economic Journal: Microeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 13(1), pages 283-337, February.
    19. Tan, Hongru & Wright, Julian, 2021. "Pricing distortions in multi-sided platforms," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    20. Jean‐Charles Rochet & Jean Tirole, 2006. "Two‐sided markets: a progress report," RAND Journal of Economics, RAND Corporation, vol. 37(3), pages 645-667, September.
    21. Karle, Heiko & Peitz, Martin, 2017. "De-targeting: Advertising an assortment of products to loss-averse consumers," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 103-124.
    22. Kfir Eliaz & Ran Spiegler, 2011. "A Simple Model of Search Engine Pricing," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 121(556), pages 329-339, November.
    23. Heiko Karle & Martin Peitz & Markus Reisinger, 2020. "Segmentation versus Agglomeration: Competition between Platforms with Competitive Sellers," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 128(6), pages 2329-2374.
    24. Paul Belleflamme & Martin Peitz, 2019. "Managing competition on a two‐sided platform," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(1), pages 5-22, January.
    25. Rey, Patrick & Chen, Zhijun, 2023. "A Theory of Conglomerate Mergers," TSE Working Papers 23-1447, Toulouse School of Economics (TSE).
    26. Simon P. Anderson & Stephen Coate, 2005. "Market Provision of Broadcasting: A Welfare Analysis," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 72(4), pages 947-972.
    27. repec:bon:boncrc:crctr224_2023_428v2 is not listed on IDEAS
    28. Chengsi Wang & Julian Wright, 2020. "Search platforms: showrooming and price parity clauses," RAND Journal of Economics, RAND Corporation, vol. 51(1), pages 32-58, March.
    29. Doganoglu, Toker & Wright, Julian, 2006. "Multihoming and compatibility," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 24(1), pages 45-67, January.
    30. Martin Peitz & Susumu Sato, 2023. "Asymmetric Platform Oligopoly," CRC TR 224 Discussion Paper Series crctr224_2023_428, University of Bonn and University of Mannheim, Germany.
    31. Carlotta Mariotto & Marianne Verdier, 2020. "Platform merchant competition for sales services," Post-Print hal-04129350, HAL.
    32. 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.
    33. Andrei Hagiu, 2009. "Two‐Sided Platforms: Product Variety and Pricing Structures," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 18(4), pages 1011-1043, December.
    34. Doh-Shin Jeon & Byung-Cheol Kim & Domenico Menicucci, 2022. "Second-Degree Price Discrimination by a Two-Sided Monopoly Platform," American Economic Journal: Microeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 14(2), pages 322-369, May.
    35. Casner, Ben, 2020. "Seller curation in platforms," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    36. Yongmin Chen & Chuan He, 2011. "Paid Placement: Advertising and Search on the Internet," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 121(556), pages 309-328, November.
    37. Hagiu, Andrei & Hałaburda, Hanna, 2014. "Information and two-sided platform profits," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 25-35.
    38. Caillaud, Bernard & Jullien, Bruno, 2003. "Chicken & Egg: Competition among Intermediation Service Providers," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 34(2), pages 309-328, Summer.
    39. Gomes, Renato & Pavan, Alessandro, 2016. "Many-to-many matching and price discrimination," Theoretical Economics, Econometric Society, vol. 11(3), September.
    40. Andrei Hagiu & Daniel Spulber, 2013. "First-Party Content and Coordination in Two-Sided Markets," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 59(4), pages 933-949, April.
    41. Feng Zhu & Qihong Liu, 2018. "Competing with complementors: An empirical look at Amazon.com," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 39(10), pages 2618-2642, October.
    42. Daniele Condorelli & Jorge Padilla, 2020. "Harnessing Platform Envelopment in the Digital World," Journal of Competition Law and Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 16(2), pages 143-187.
    43. Anderson, Simon P. & Peitz, Martin, 2020. "Media see-saws: Winners and losers in platform markets," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 186(C).
    44. Hagiu, Andrei & Wright, Julian, 2015. "Multi-sided platforms," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 162-174.
    45. Jay Pil Choi & Doh-Shin Jeon, 2022. "Platform Design Biases in Ad-Funded Two-Sided Markets," Post-Print hal-04018490, HAL.
    46. Doh-Shin Jeon & Yassine Lefouili & Leonardo Madio, 2021. "Platform Liability and Innovation," Working Papers 21-05, NET Institute.
    47. Paul Heidhues & Mats Köster & Botond Kőszegi, 2024. "A Theory of Digital Ecosystems," ECONtribute Discussion Papers Series 329, University of Bonn and University of Cologne, Germany.
    48. Helen Weeds, 2016. "TV Wars: Exclusive Content and Platform Competition in Pay TV," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 126(594), pages 1600-1633, August.
    49. Justin P. Johnson & Andrew Rhodes & Matthijs Wildenbeest, 2023. "Platform Design When Sellers Use Pricing Algorithms," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 91(5), pages 1841-1879, September.
    50. Martin Peitz & Anton Sobolev, 2024. "Product Recommendations and Price Parity Clauses," CRC TR 224 Discussion Paper Series crctr224_2024_595, University of Bonn and University of Mannheim, Germany.
    51. Ambrus, Attila & Reisinger, Markus, 2006. "Exclusive vs Overlapping Viewers in Media Markets," Discussion Papers in Economics 1178, University of Munich, Department of Economics.
    52. S Nageeb Ali & Greg Lewis & Shoshana Vasserman, 2023. "Voluntary Disclosure and Personalized Pricing," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 90(2), pages 538-571.
    53. Andrei Hagiu & Bruno Jullien, 2011. "Why do intermediaries divert search?," RAND Journal of Economics, RAND Corporation, vol. 42(2), pages 337-362, June.
    54. Andre Boik & Kenneth S. Corts, 2016. "The Effects of Platform Most-Favored-Nation Clauses on Competition and Entry," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 59(1), pages 105-134.
    55. Justin P. Johnson, 2017. "The Agency Model and MFN Clauses," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 84(3), pages 1151-1185.
    56. Federico Etro, 2021. "Product selection in online marketplaces," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(3), pages 614-637, August.
    57. Ambrus, Attila & Reisinger, Markus, 2006. "Exclusive vs Overlapping Viewers in Media Markets," Discussion Paper Series of SFB/TR 15 Governance and the Efficiency of Economic Systems 161, Free University of Berlin, Humboldt University of Berlin, University of Bonn, University of Mannheim, University of Munich.
    58. Andrei Hagiu & Robin S. Lee, 2011. "Exclusivity and Control," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 20(3), pages 679-708, September.
    59. Bruno Jullien, 2011. "Competition in Multi-sided Markets: Divide and Conquer," American Economic Journal: Microeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 3(4), pages 186-220, November.
    60. Mark Armstrong & Julian Wright, 2007. "Two-sided Markets, Competitive Bottlenecks and Exclusive Contracts," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 32(2), pages 353-380, August.
    61. Benjamin Edelman & Julian Wright, 2015. "Price Coherence and Excessive Intermediation," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 130(3), pages 1283-1328.
    62. Simon P. Anderson & Øystein Foros & Hans Jarle Kind, 2018. "Competition for Advertisers and for Viewers in Media Markets," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 128(608), pages 34-54, February.
    63. Tat-How Teh & Chunchun Liu & Julian Wright & Junjie Zhou, 2023. "Multihoming and Oligopolistic Platform Competition," American Economic Journal: Microeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 15(4), pages 68-113, November.
    64. Wen Wen & Feng Zhu, 2019. "Threat of platform‐owner entry and complementor responses: Evidence from the mobile app market," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 40(9), pages 1336-1367, September.
    65. Guofu Tan & Junjie Zhou, 2021. "The Effects of Competition and Entry in Multi-sided Markets," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 88(2), pages 1002-1030.
    66. Doganoglu, Toker & Wright, Julian, 2010. "Exclusive dealing with network effects," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 28(2), pages 145-154, March.
    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. Martin Peitz, 2023. "Governance and Regulation of Platforms," CRC TR 224 Discussion Paper Series crctr224_2023_480, University of Bonn and University of Mannheim, Germany.
    2. Jullien, Bruno & Pavan, Alessandro & Rysman, Marc, 2021. "Two-sided Markets, Pricing, and Network Effects," TSE Working Papers 21-1238, Toulouse School of Economics (TSE).
    3. Jullien, Bruno & Sand-Zantman, Wilfried, 2021. "The Economics of Platforms: A Theory Guide for Competition Policy," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 54(C).
    4. Jan Frederic Nerbel & Markus Kreutzer, 2023. "Digital platform ecosystems in flux: From proprietary digital platforms to wide-spanning ecosystems," Electronic Markets, Springer;IIM University of St. Gallen, vol. 33(1), pages 1-20, December.
    5. Paul Belleflamme & Martin Peitz, 2019. "Managing competition on a two‐sided platform," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(1), pages 5-22, January.
    6. Simon P. Anderson & Bruno Jullien, 2015. "The advertising-financed business model in two-sided media markets," Post-Print hal-02866192, HAL.
    7. Steffen, Nico & Wiewiorra, Lukas & Kroon, Peter, 2021. "Wettbewerb und Regulierung in der Plattform- und Datenökonomie," WIK Discussion Papers 481, WIK Wissenschaftliches Institut für Infrastruktur und Kommunikationsdienste GmbH.
    8. Moraga-Gonzalez, Jose L. & Wildenbeest, Matthijs R., 2011. "Comparison sites," IESE Research Papers D/933, IESE Business School.
      • Jose Luis Moraga-Gonzalez & Matthijs R. Wildenbeest, 2011. "Comparison Sites," Working Papers 2011-04, Indiana University, Kelley School of Business, Department of Business Economics and Public Policy.
    9. Paul Belleflamme & Martin Peitz, 2018. "Platforms and network effects," Chapters, in: Luis C. Corchón & Marco A. Marini (ed.), Handbook of Game Theory and Industrial Organization, Volume II, chapter 11, pages 286-317, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    10. Zennyo, Yusuke, 2020. "Freemium competition among ad-sponsored platforms," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 50(C).
    11. Tremblay, Mark J. & Adachi, Takanori & Sato, Susumu, 2023. "Cournot platform competition with mixed-homing," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    12. David S. Evans & Richard Schmalensee, 2013. "The Antitrust Analysis of Multi-Sided Platform Businesses," NBER Working Papers 18783, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    13. Etro, Federico, 2023. "Platform competition with free entry of sellers," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    14. Carrillo, Juan D. & Tan, Guofu, 2021. "Platform competition with complementary products," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    15. Jullien, Bruno & Pavan, Alessandro, 2013. "Platform Pricing under Dispersed Information," IDEI Working Papers 793, Institut d'Économie Industrielle (IDEI), Toulouse.
    16. Kazakova, E. & Sandomirskaia, M. & Suvorov, A. & Khazhgerieva, A. & Shavshin, R., 2023. "Platforms, online labor markets, and crowdsourcing. Part 1. Traditional online labor market," Journal of the New Economic Association, New Economic Association, vol. 60(3), pages 120-148.
    17. Calvano, Emilio & Polo, Michele, 2021. "Market power, competition and innovation in digital markets: A survey," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 54(C).
    18. Xie, Jiaping & Zhu, Weijun & Wei, Lihong & Liang, Ling, 2021. "Platform competition with partial multi-homing: When both same-side and cross-side network effects exist," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 233(C).
    19. Reisinger, Markus, 2014. "Two-part tariff competition between two-sided platforms," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 168-180.
    20. Emilio Calvano & Bruno Jullien, 2012. "Issues in Online Advertising and Competition Policy: A Two-sided Market Perspective," Chapters, in: Joseph E. Harrington Jr & Yannis Katsoulacos (ed.), Recent Advances in the Analysis of Competition Policy and Regulation, chapter 9, Edward Elgar Publishing.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Two-sided platform; price theory; digital markets; network effects; platform design;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • L12 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Monopoly; Monopolization Strategies
    • L13 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Oligopoly and Other Imperfect Markets
    • L41 - Industrial Organization - - Antitrust Issues and Policies - - - Monopolization; Horizontal Anticompetitive Practices
    • L42 - Industrial Organization - - Antitrust Issues and Policies - - - Vertical Restraints; Resale Price Maintenance; Quantity Discounts

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:bon:boncrc:crctr224_2024_584. 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: CRC Office (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.crctr224.de .

    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.