In this issue: This issue, organized by guest editor Glen Weyl, concerns one of the hottest topics in antitrust and economics—two-sided markets. Understanding the distinction between conventional and two-sided markets…

Estelle Cantillon, Pai-Ling Yin, Jul 27, 2010 Demand in platform competition is characterized by a 2-stage game: first, demanders decide whether to adopt a platform, and THEN they decide how…

Hanna Halaburda, Mikolaj Jan Piskorski, Jul 27, 2010 Existing economic wisdom offers unequivocal advice to managers seeking to establish new platform businesses: Invest to acquire users as quickly as possible…

Lapo Filistrucchi, Jul 27, 2010 There is a lot of talk nowadays, among competition policy practitioners, about two-sided markets and two-sided platforms. It is indeed one of the hot topics.…

Joshua Gans, Jul 27, 2010 Two-sided platforms have represented an antitrust challenge in a similar way to the challenge posed by innovation and dynamics. Put simply, a seeming lack of…

Renato Gomes, Jul 27, 2010 The most valuable asset of many two-sided platforms is their user base. In a celebrated example, Internet search engines (such as Google, Yahoo! or Bing)…

Kaushal Sharma, Shanker Singham, Jul 27, 2010 A two-sided market refers to a type of economic transaction or network in which there are two distinct user groups and the demands…