Digital technology is the representation of information in bits. This technology has reduced
the cost of storage, computation, and transmission of data. Research on digital economics …

Online marketplaces have become ubiquitous, as sites such as eBay, Taobao, Uber, and
Airbnb are frequented by billions of users. The success of these marketplaces is attributed to …

Online markets pose a difficulty for evaluating products, particularly experience goods, such
as used cars, that cannot be easily described online. This exacerbates product uncertainty …

An important part of our information-gathering behavior has always been to find out what
other people think. With the growing availability and popularity of opinion-rich resources …

Internet review forums increasingly supplement expert opinion and social networks in
informing consumers about product quality. However, limited empirical evidence links digital …

This essay reviews the theoretical and empirical literature on quality disclosure and
certification. After comparing quality disclosure with other quality assurance mechanisms …

Information asymmetry presents a challenge to equity crowdfunding just as in other markets
for equity capital. Investors are less likely to finance startups when it is difficult to assess …

We construct a panel of eBay seller histories and examine the importance of eBay's
reputation mechanism. We find that, when a seller first receives negative feedback, his …

Reciprocity in feedback giving distorts the production and content of reputation information
in a market, hampering trust and trade efficiency. Guided by feedback patterns observed on …

As a platform improves trust between the two sides of its market to facilitate matching and
transactions, it faces an increased risk of disintermediation: with sufficient trust, the two sides …