Introduction to special issue on platforms

• Published date: 01 January 2019
• Author: Luis Cabral,Martin Peitz,Julian Wright
• Date: 01 January 2019
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/jems.12302

Received: 16 September 2018

|

Revised: 21 September 2018

|

Accepted: 21 September 2018

DOI: 10.1111/jems.12302

Introduction to the special issue on platforms

Luis Cabral

1

|

Martin Peitz

2

|

Julian Wright

3

1

Department of Economics, Stern School of Business/Kaufman Management Center, New York University, New York, New York

2

Department of Economics, University of Mannheim, Mannheim, Germany

3

Department of Economics, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore

Correspondence

Luis Cabral, Stern School of Business/Kaufman Management Center, New York University, 44 West 4th St., Suite 7‐140, New York, NY 10012‐1126.

Email: lcabral@stern.nyu.edu

Platform businesses have gained great prominence. Some of the most valuable corporations of the 21st century are built

around multisided platform businesses, as are some of the most disruptive new competitors. Fittingly, the body of

economics research on multisided platforms has increased considerably. However, the research framework is far from

settled: In part, because different industries have different features and research that accommodates these differences is

still a work in progress.

The goal of the present issue is to provide perspectives on economics research on multisided platforms (also called

two‐sided markets). Unlike other special issues, the editors did not solicit long research papers but rather shorter

articles that summarize a research program, or provide a progress report, or simply suggest an example or application of

an ongoing research project. We are pleased that the vast majority of invited authors accepted the invitation to

contribute; and that, all together, the final collection of papers provides an excellent sample of the ongoing research on

this important topic.

The papers underwent the standard review process, keeping in mind the special nature of the contributions we were

looking for. Papers coauthored by one of the coeditors of this special issue were handled by a different coeditor.

Although we did not have a clear structure in mind, the papers fall naturally into a series of groups, which in turn

justify the order in which they are listed.

A first group deals with platform market structure. This group includes the papers “Managing competition on a two‐

sided platform”(Paul Belleflamme and Martin Peitz); “Friends or foes? Examining platform owners’entry into

complementors’spaces”(Feng Zhu); and “Platform competition: Betfair and the UK market for sports betting”(Ramon

Casadesus‐Masanell and Neil Campbell).

The second group of papers focuses on the issue of beliefs and equilibrium selection in platforms. It includes the

papers “Incumbency advantage and its value”(Gary Biglaiser, Emilio Calvano, and Jacques Crémer); “Focality

advantage in platform competition”(Hanna Halaburda and Yaron Yehezkel); and “Towards a theory of platform

dynamics”(Luís Cabral).

Next comes a set of papers dealing with platforms and the sharing economy. This group includes “Platform market

competition with endogenous side decisions”(Jay Pil Choi and Yusuke Zennyo); “A theory of multihoming in rideshare

competition”(Kevin A. Bryan and Joshua S. Gans); and “The status of workers and platforms in the sharing economy”

(Andrei Hagiu and Julian Wright).

The special issue then turns to mergers and antitrust issues. This group of papers includes “Horizontal mergers

between multisided platforms: Insights from Cournot competition”(Joao Correia‐da‐Silva, Bruno Jullien, Yassine

Lefouili, and Joana Pinho); “Consumer multi‐homing (joint purchases) and market performance: Mergers and entry in

media markets”(Simon P. Anderson, Øystein Foros, and Hans Jarle Kind); and “Platform economics and antitrust

enforcement: A little knowledge is a dangerous thing”(Michael L. Katz).

J Econ Manage Strat. 2019;28:3–4. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/jems © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

|

3

ORIGINAL ARTICLE