Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/282126 
Authors: 
Year of Publication: 
2023
Series/Report no.: 
Discussion Paper No. 434
Publisher: 
Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München und Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Collaborative Research Center Transregio 190 - Rationality and Competition, München und Berlin
Abstract: 
Platforms often display their products ahead of third-party products in search. Is this due to consumers preferring platform-owned products or platforms engaging in self-preferencing by biasing search towards their own products? What are the welfare implications? I develop a structural model of mobile application markets to identify self-preferencing and quantify its welfare effects, taking into account third-party developers' quality adjustment. A new dataset on app downloads, prices, characteristics, and search rankings is used to estimate the model. Estimates indicate self-preferencing. Simulations show higher consumer welfare and third-party profits without self-preferencing.
Subjects: 
competition policy
platform design
consumer search
endogenous product choice
JEL: 
D12
D83
L13
L86
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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