Research
My research has two primary objectives. Firstly, I aim to generate work that holds significance both academically and in practical business contexts. Secondly, I strive to produce research that is accessible and comprehensible even to non-specialists.
I am currently focusing my research on the domains of non-fungible tokens and dating. My papers have been invited for presentation at various premier venues and have received nominations for best paper (ICIS 2023) and best student paper (WISE 2022). My research pipeline includes further exploration of non-fungible tokens and dating, as well as expansion into the realms of online streaming and real estate.
I primarily acquire data for my research through methods such as web scraping and accessing APIs. Additionally, in some cases, I am also incorporating experimental research methods and collaborating with companies.
NFT Disruption in Platform Competition: Evidence from Trading Card Collectibles
(Joint work with Dominik Gutt and Ting Li)
Abstract: The emergence of blockchain technology has catalyzed the creation of innovative platforms, diverging significantly from traditional incumbents. To date, the literature has remained silent on exploring the implications of blockchain-based platforms for established platform competition. This study addresses this gap, examining the impact of the blockchain-based platform "NBA Top Shot", which offers digital collectibles, on the pricing of physical collectibles within an incumbent platform. We use data from eBay as the incumbent and we find that the challenger's entry led to a decline of 5.2% (US$ 27.7) in the prices of the incumbent. Studying each actor's (buyers and sellers) reactions, we find that buyers' willingness to pay drops by 10.3% whereas sellers' reservation prices decrease by 5%, suggesting the new entrant cannibalizes demand from the incumbent. We further explore platform differences and analyze how the challenger's decisions regarding product selection and scarcity, along with the incumbent's heterogeneity (seller reputation and product quality), influence these pricing dynamics. Last, we conduct a series of tests using multiple data sets to validate our identification strategy, estimate the economic implications of the impact, and discuss the contributions of our work.
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How Do Platform Subsidies Affect Creation, Engagement, and Pricing? Evidence from Non-Fungible Tokens
(Joint work with Dominik Gutt, Murat Tunc, and Ting Li)
Abstract: Content creation costs pose a threat to online marketplaces aiming to stimulate content supply. In response, platform managers devise new policies to subsidize these costs for content creators. In this study, we analyze data from a leading NFT marketplace to examine the impact of a lazy minting policy, which enables content creation without upfront fees, on created content, engagement with that content, and pricing. On the creation side, we observe a volume-effort trade-off for existing (but not for new) creators who create more but exert less effort during creation. On the engagement side, we note a decrease in engagement, particularly affecting creators with higher engagement levels prior to the policy change. Additionally, we explore the mechanism driving this reduction and find that diminished attention plays a crucial role, while a larger follower count does not shield creators from decreased engagement. Furthermore, we analyze token prices and sales, revealing no evidence to support that creators pass on the reduced creation costs to first-time buyers. Finally, we discuss our work'ss contributions to the literature and its implications for platform managers.
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How Anti-ghosting Interventions Affect Matchmaking
(Joint work with Rodrigo Belo and Ting Li)
Abstract: Many digital platforms do good well in bringing users together but not so much in encouraging continued communication. In this work, we collaborate with a dating platform and study how an "anti-ghosting" feature aimed at continuing communication affects users. We find that users exposed to this feature increase all their communication activity, even that which is not directly associated with this feature. We study why this happens and find that exposed users browse less for other members and instead converge their attention towards members they are already connected to. Studying matchmaking, we find that exposed users benefit both by becoming more likely to move their communication off the platform with other members, as well as by doing so with more members. Furthermore, we assess the economic value of incorporating this feature for platforms. Lastly, we discuss how we contribute to the literature and our work's implications for platform decision makers.