Sponsored search mechanisms, where advertisers bid for placement to beas close to the top in the listing of search results, are the fastestgrowing among online search models. Sponsored search in popular searchservices such as Google and Yahoo! employ an auction mechanism whereinfirms can bid,...

Secondary markets have adopted a number of quality signaling mechanismssuch as certification to reduce information asymmetries between buyersand sellers in these markets. However the importance and value of thesesignals depends on the nature and extent of information asymmetries.With the growth...

We study whether and how contractual arrangements (fixed price vs.time-and-materials contracts) change the effect of reputation,certification, and language characteristics on the chances of winningoutsourcing contracts. Using a comprehensive dataset from an onlineoutsourcing marketplace, we...

Recent developments in information technologies, especially Web 2.0 technologies, have radically transformed many markets through disintermediation and decentralization. Lower barriers of entry in these markets enable small firms and individuals to engage in transactions that were otherwise...

The growth of the Internet and other digitization technologies has enabled the unbundling of the physical and information components of the value chain and has led to an explosion of information made available to consumers. Understanding the implications of this new informational landscape for...

We study the online market for peer-to-peer (P2P) lending, in which individuals bid on unsecured microloans sought by other individual borrowers. Using a large sample of consummated and failed listings from the largest online P2P lending marketplace - Prosper.com, we find that the online...

Although the efficiency-enhancing features of online markets have been well studied, much less is known about firms' differentiation strategies in these competitive markets, or the outcomes of such differentiation. This study examines competition among firms in online sponsored search markets -...

Possibly. We empirically examine the plausibility of rational models designed to explain stock price bubbles associated with technological revolutions such as the internet. Our innovation is to examine the volatility patterns of old economy (brick and mortar) firms that adopted the internet as a...

This paper is among the first to use a unique controlled empirical setting - traditional firms' adoption of the Internet for commerce - to investigate the impact of changes in firms' technological environment on their stock return volatility. Using three distinct empirical methodologies we...

Electronic brokerages on the Internet represent one of the most successful examples ofelectronic commerce, having captured over 20% of retail stock trades. According toeconomic theory, prices of commodities like securities should converge to one price in amarket with the transparency of the...