| Abstract: |
We study a new data set of US sports card conventions in order to evaluate the
pricing theory of two-sided markets. Conventions are two-sided because
organizers must set fees to attract both consumers and dealers. We have
detailed information on consumer price, dealer price and, since most
conventions are local, the market structure for conventions. We present
several ndings: rst, consumer pricing decreases with competition at any
reasonable distance, but pricing to dealers is insensitive to competition and
in longer distances even increases with competition. Second, when consumer
price is zero (and thus constrained), dealer price decreases more strongly
with competition. These results are compatible with existing models of
two-sided markets, but are dicult to explain without such models. |