The Impact of E-Commerce on Relative Prices and Consumer Welfare / Yoon J. Jo, Misaki Matsumura, David E. Weinstein.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Jo, Yoon J.

Contributor:

National Bureau of Economic Research.

Matsumura, Misaki.

Weinstein, David E.

Series:

Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) no. w26506.

NBER working paper series no. w26506

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource: illustrations (black and white);

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 2019.

Summary:

This paper examines the impact of e-commerce on pricing behavior and welfare. Using Japanese data, we find that the entry of e-commerce firms significantly raised the rate of intercity price convergence for goods sold intensively online, but not for other goods. E-commerce also lowered relative inflation rates for goods sold intensively online. We overcome data challenges using long data series and historical catalog sales as an instrument for e-commerce sales intensity. We estimate that reductions in price dispersion raised welfare by 0.3 percent. E-commerce also lowered variety-adjusted prices on average by 0.9 percent, and more in cities with highly educated populations.

Notes:

Print version record

November 2019.