We investigate the relationship between on-demand ridesharing via platforms like Uber and Lyft and the use of public transit systems. Our study uses trip count data on ridesharing, taxi, shared bike, and subway usage in New York City. Exploiting a series of exogenous shocks to the system — the...

In this paper we analyze a model of usage pricing for digital products with discontinuous supply functions, which characterizes a number of information technology-based products and services for which variable increases in demand are fulfilled by the addition of "blocks" of computing or network...

This paper analyzes the optimal choice of pricing schedules and technological deterrence levels in a market with digital piracy where sellers can influence the degree of piracy by implementing digital rights management (DRM) systems. It is shown that a monopolist's optimal pricing schedule can...

A number of technology products display positive network effects, and are used in variable quantities by heterogeneous customers. Examples include operating systems, infrastructure and back-end software, web services and networking equipment. This paper studies optimal nonlinear pricing for such...

Platforms represent a new middle ground between hierarchies and marketplaces, balancing delegation to providers with centralized control of key strategic dimensions like pricing and customer service. Market design choices are often made early in the life of a platform, thus executives must...

We study the spread of exogenous demand shocks generated by book reviews featured on the Oprah Winfrey TV show and published in the New York Times through the online co-purchase recommendation network on Amazon.com. We leverage the co-purchase recommendation network on Amazon.com to determine...

This paper presents a model of local network effects in which agents connected in a social network each value the adoption of a product by a heterogeneous subset of other agents in their neighborhood, and have incomplete information about the structure and strength of adoption complementarities...