Network Effects: Betwixt and Between

Mohammed Mardan and Mark Tremblay

No 10082, CESifo Working Paper Series from CESifo

Abstract: We challenge the dichotomy of network effects and highlight that they are not an exogenous characteristic of networks, but endogenous to the decisions of network users. When users choose which activities to perform in a network, multi-activity users transform indirect into direct network effects and a network effectively becomes one-sided if merely multi-activity users frequent it. Our work contributes to theory by determining the underlying micro-foundations that produce what the literature calls a two-sided market and by highlighting how the standard two-sided pricing results arises only under very specific conditions. We also contribute to estimation by illustrating how the presence of multi-active users can challenge identification in network industries.

Keywords: platforms; one-sided markets; two-sided markets; multi-siding users (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D21 D42 L10 L20 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-com, nep-net and nep-reg
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ces:ceswps:_10082

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