Carroni, E;
Ferrari, L;
Righi, S;
(2019)
The price of discovering your needs online.
Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization
, 164
pp. 317-330.
10.1016/j.jebo.2019.06.008.
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Abstract
Web users, even when not actively looking for a product, are continuously targeted by offers that potentially fit their interests. Does this kind of targeting always promote transactions with high social value? We consider a model in which a two-sided platform is visited by sellers seeking to promote their products and by users with state-contingent preferences about those products. Depending on its targeting ability, the platform could be able to target users by tailored advertising banners. We show that persuasion is stronger when targeting ability is maximal, fueling purchases that rational individuals may regret due to the persuasive nature of banners.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | The price of discovering your needs online |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1016/j.jebo.2019.06.008 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jebo.2019.06.008 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). |
| Keywords: | Targeting, Platforms, Digital economy, Information design |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Engineering Science UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Engineering Science > Dept of Computer Science |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10076745 |
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