Scientific Articles
Oscar nominations raise audience expectations, causing nominated films to receive harsher user ratings on review platforms—a disappointment effect driven by the gap between expected and experienced quality.
We study the DMA's requirement for Google Maps to offer rival navigation apps, finding that the default route choice architecture substantially shapes consumer behavior—and that mandatory interoperability can improve welfare.
We document a sharp rise in discrimination against Asian-American Airbnb hosts during COVID-19, showing that pandemic-driven scapegoating translated into measurable declines in bookings—evidence that social shocks can reshape marketplace discrimination.
Highly selective ("picky") reviewers rate products more harshly, and as a platform matures and attracts more expert reviewers, even high-quality products can see their average ratings decline—a systematic reversal driven by reviewer composition.
Increased local competition on Airbnb strengthens hosts' incentives to invest in reputation, with competitive pressure shaping quality provision in a way that benefits consumers in peer-to-peer marketplaces.
Working Papers
We develop a framework linking the informational content of reviews to reviewer incentives and platform design, identifying how review system architecture shapes both reviewer behavior and the quality of information aggregated on platforms.
Reputation incentives break down as service providers approach the end of their platform engagement horizon. We document end-game effects in online rating systems and study the platform design features that mitigate them.
We study Airbnb's 2022 policy requiring all-inclusive price display and show that unshrouding hidden cleaning fees reshapes host pricing strategies and consumer demand, with implications for platform transparency regulation.
When YouTube tightened ad monetization in 2018, affected creators shifted effort toward Patreon, increasing paid content production by 8% and patron earnings by 14%—documenting how platform governance shocks generate cross-platform complementor responses.
Work in Progress
We study whether Uber's pricing algorithm responds to minimum earnings regulations in ways that offset the intended worker protection effects of minimum pay rules.
Chapters and Media
- “Research: How Top Reviewers Skew Online Ratings” with Tommaso Bondi and Ryan Louis Stevens. Harvard Business Review Digital Articles (2025)
- “Ensuring Your Products Aren’t Used for Discrimination” with Michael Luca and Elizaveta Pronkina. Harvard Business Review Digital Articles (2022)
- “Asymmetric Information and Review Systems: The Challenge of Digital Platforms” In “Economic Analysis of the Digital Revolution” edited by J.J. Ganuza and G. Llobet. Chapter 2. 37-74 (2018). Madrid: Funcas