We use various economic and pedagogical concepts to understand the specificities of MOOC (Massive Online Open Courses) platforms. We discuss how the private provision of MOOCs can be sustained. Using the theory of multisided platforms, we analyze five ways to monetize the MOOC business. We then...

We consider the effects of taxes for competing two-sided platforms. We first detail how a platform passes a tax increase on its prices. Adding price competition, we study next how the tax affects profits. Because of the strategic implications of the cross-side external effects, the tax increase...