Avi  Goldfarb

Professor Avi Goldfarb
Professor of Marketing
Rotman School of Management


Research

Publications
Working Papers

Edited Book

Goldfarb, Avi, Shane Greenstein, and Catherine Tucker. 2015.Economic Analysis of the Digital Economy University of Chicago Press, Chicago.

Publications

Goldfarb, Avi, and Catherine Tucker. Forthcoming. Digital Economics Journal of Economic Literature.
Summary of the digital economics literature.

Wang, Kitty and Avi Goldfarb. 2017. Can offline stores drive online sales? Journal of Marketing Research. 54(5), 706-719.
Distinct distribution and communication roles for offline stores affecting online sales.

Borkovsky, Ron, Avi Goldfarb, Avery Haviv, and Sridhar Moorthy. 2017. An Empirical Study of the Dynamics of Branding Marketing Science. 36(4), 471-499.
Explores how brands are built and harvested in an oligopoly.

Forman, Chris, Avi Goldfarb, and Shane Greenstein. 2016. Agglomeration of Invention in the Bay Area: Not just ICT. American Economic Review Papers and Proceedings . 106(5).
  Related Atlantic blog post
Documents increasing role of the Bay Area in US innovation.

Agrawal, Ajay, Christian Catalini, and Avi Goldfarb. 2016. Are syndicates the killer app of equity crowdfunding?California Management Review. 58(2), 111-124.
     Working Paper Version
Examines the role of syndicates in overcoming asymmetric information issues in crowdfunding.

Agrawal, Ajay, Christian Catalini, and Avi Goldfarb. 2015.Crowdfunding: Geography, Social Networks, and the Timing of Investment Journal of Economics and Management Strategy 24(2), 253-274.
Examines the roles of social networks and distance in crowdfunding. (Working paper versions were titled "The Geography of Crowdfunding" and "Crowdfunding: Social Frictions in the Flat World?)

Agrawal, Ajay, Avi Goldfarb, and Florenta Teodoridis. 2016. Does Knowledge Accumulation Increase the Returns to Collaboration?American Economic Journal: Applied Economics. 8(1), 100-128.
Explores testable implications of Jones' knowledge burden hypothesis.

Yang, Yupin, and Avi Goldfarb. 2015Banning controversial sponsors: Understanding equilibrium outcomes when sports sponsorships are viewed as two-sided matches Journal of Marketing Research 52(5), 593-615.
Explores equilibrium effects of sponsorship bans in English football.

Goldfarb, Avi, Ryan C. McDevitt, Sampsa Samila, and Brian Silverman. 2015. The Effect of Social Interaction on Economic Transactions Management Science 61(12), 2963-2981.
Social interaction in retail changes purchase decisions.

Goldfarb, Avi and Catherine Tucker. 2015. Advertising standards and online advertising Management Science 61(11), 2707-2719.
Examines how IAB advertising standards changed online ad effectiveness.

Campbell, James, Avi Goldfarb, and Catherine Tucker. 2015. Privacy Regulation and Market Structure. Journal of Economics and Management Strategy 24(1), 47-73.
     Working Paper Version
Theory paper exploring the potential of privacy regulation to help incumbent firms.

Dranove, David, Chris Forman, Avi Goldfarb, and Shane Greenstein. 2014.The Trillion Dollar Conundrum: Complementarities and Health Information Technology American Economic Journal: Economic Policy 6(4), 239-270.
Examines the heterogeneous impact of EMRs on hospital costs across locations.

Agrawal, Ajay, Christian Catalini, and Avi Goldfarb. 2014. Some Simple Economics of Crowdfunding. in Innovation Policy and the Economy Volume 14. Eds. Josh Lerner and Scott Stern. NBER, University of Chicago Press, 63-97.
  Related Economist article
Review article on crowdfunding.

Goldfarb, Avi. 2014. What is different about online advertising? Review of Industrial Organization 44(2): 115-129.
     Working Paper Version
Review paper on online advertising.

Gordon, Brett, Avi Goldfarb, and Yang Li. 2013. Does price elasticity vary with economic growth? A cross-category analysis. Journal of Marketing Research 50(1), 4-23.
     Working Paper Version   Elasticities by category-quarter and code
Measures price elasticity in 19 categories over 6 years.

Ghose, Anindya, Avi Goldfarb, and Sang Pil Han. 2013. How is the Mobile Internet Different? Search costs and local activities. Information Systems Research. 24(3), 613-631.
     Working Paper Version
  Related MIT Technology Review Article   Related The Conversation article
Documents differences between the mobile internet and the PC-based internet.

Goldfarb, Avi and Catherine Tucker. 2013. Why Managing Consumer Privacy Can Be an Opportunity. Sloan Management Review 54(3), 10-12.
     Link to journal
Strategies for managing consumer privacy.

Goldfarb, Avi. 2012.The Internet and the Offline World. The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics, 2nd Edition. Eds. Steven Durlauf and Lawrence Blume, Palgrave Macmillan.
     Link to website
Dictionary entry.

Goldfarb, Avi and Catherine Tucker. 2012. Shifts in Privacy Concerns. American Economic Review Papers and Proceedings 102(3), 349-353.
     Working Paper Version
Documents causes of the increase in privacy concerns from 2001 to 2008.

Forman, Chris, Avi Goldfarb, and Shane Greenstein. 2012. The Internet and Local Wages: A Puzzle. American Economic Review 102(1), 556-575.
     Working Paper Version      Online Appendix       Financial Times article       NBER Digest article   Economist blog article
Shows relationship between business use of advanced internet technology and growth in wages.

Goldfarb, Avi and Catherine Tucker. 2012. Privacy and Innovation. in Innovation Policy and the Economy Volume 12. Eds. Josh Lerner and Scott Stern. NBER, University of Chicago Press, 65-89.
Review article on privacy and innovation.

Goldfarb, Avi, Teck-Hua Ho, Wilfred Amaldoss, Alexander Brown, Yan Chen, Tony Haitao Cui, Alberto Galasso, Tanjim Hossain, Min Hsu, Noah Lim, Mo Xiao, and Botao Yang. 2012. Behavioral Models of Managerial Decision-Making. Marketing Letters. 23(2), 405-421. 2010 Choice Symposium Paper.
Review article on applying behavioral economics to the decisions of managers.

Goldfarb, Avi, and Mo Xiao. 2011. Who thinks about the competition? Managerial ability and strategic entry in US local telephone markets. American Economic Review 101(7): 3130-3161.
     Working Paper Version.      Code
Examines how manager and firm characteristics relate to the ability to correctly conjecture competitor behavior using a structural model of ability.

Goldfarb, Avi and Catherine Tucker. 2011. Privacy Regulation and Online Advertising. Management Science 57(1), 57-71.
     Final Version      CACM article    Les Echos article
Combine field and natural experiments to show that online advertising became less effective in Europe after an increase in EU privacy regulation.

Goldfarb, Avi, and Catherine Tucker. 2011. Substitution between Online and Offline Advertising Markets. Journal of Competition Law and Economics 7(1), 37-44.
     Working Paper Version
Frames the results of "Search Engine Advertising: Channel Substitution when Pricing Ads to Context" and "Advertising Bans and the Substitutability of Online and Offline Advertising" in terms of market definition and the antitrust debate around online advertising platforms.

Goldfarb, Avi, and Catherine Tucker. 2011. Search Engine Advertising: Channel Substitution when Pricing Ads to Context. Management Science 57(3), 458-470.
     Final Version      Online Appendix
Examines the pricing of service engine advertisements for legal services in a natural experiment.

Goldfarb, Avi and Catherine Tucker. 2011 Advertising Bans and the Substitutability of Online and Offline Advertising. Journal of Marketing Research 48(2), 207-228.
     Working Paper Version    CBC article    Toronto Star article
Combine field and natural experiments to show that online advertising is most effective in places that ban offline advertising.

Goldfarb, Avi and Catherine Tucker. 2011. Online Display Advertising: Targeting and Obtrusiveness. Marketing Science, 30(3), 389-404. Lead article and discussion paper; John D.C. Little Award Finalist.
     Working Paper Version      Rejoinder      Sloan Management Review article       Advertising Age article        Financial Times article
Use field experiment to show that targeted ads and highly visible ads work better separate than together.

Goldfarb, Avi and Catherine Tucker. 2011. Online Advertising in Advances in Computers volume 81. Ed. Marvin Zelkowitz. Elsevier.
     Working Paper Version 
Review article on online advertising.

Yang, Yupin, Mengze Shi, and Avi Goldfarb. 2009. Estimating the Value of Brand Alliances in Professional Team Sports. Marketing Science 28(6), 1095-1111.
     Final Version
Structural estimation of brand alliances between NBA teams and players.

Goldfarb, Avi, and Botao Yang. 2009. Are All Managers Created Equal? Journal of Marketing Research 46(5), 612-622.
     Working Paper Version.
Structural estimation of ISP decisions to adopt 56k modems using a behavioral economics (Camerer, Ho, and Chong 2004) framework.

Goldfarb, Avi, Qiang Lu, and Sridhar Moorthy. 2009. Measuring Brand Value in an Equilibrium Framework. Marketing Science 28(1), 69-86.
     Final Version
Develops an equilibrium framework for measuring brand value.

Forman, Chris, Anindya Ghose, and Avi Goldfarb. 2009. Competition between Local and Electronic Markets: How the benefit of buying online depends on where you live. Management Science 54(1),47-57.
     Final Version
  Related MIT Technology Review Article
Identifies the importance of local retail supply factors in online purchase decisions.

Agrawal, Ajay, and Avi Goldfarb. 2008. Restructuring Research: Communication Costs and the Democratization of University Innovation. American Economic Review 98(4),1578-1590.
     Working Paper Version  Nature article on collaboration
Shows that Bitnet adoption is associated with an increase in collaboration between co-located middle-level and top-level universities.

Forman, Chris, Avi Goldfarb, and Shane Greenstein. 2008. Understanding the Inputs into Innovation: Do Cities Substitute for Internal Firm Resources? Journal of Economics and Management Strategy, 17(2).
     Final Version
Examines the substitutability of internal firm resources and external local resources in process innovation.

Goldfarb, Avi. 2008. Electronic Commerce. The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics, 2nd Edition. Eds. Steven Durlauf and Lawrence Blume, Palgrave Macmillan.
     Working Paper Version
Dictionary entry.

Goldfarb, Avi, and Jeffrey Prince. 2008. Internet Adoption and Usage Patterns are Different: Implications for the Digital Divide. Information Economics and Policy 20(1), 2-15.
     Working Paper Version      Online Appendix
Shows that higher income Americans are more likely to adopt the Internet, but lower income Americans spend more time online.

Forman, Chris, and Avi Goldfarb. 2006. Information and Communication Technology Diffusion to Businesses. Handbooks in Information Systems, Vol. 1: Economics and Information Systems, Ed. Terrence Hendershott, 1-52.
     Working Paper Version
Handbook chapter on ICT diffusion.

Blum, Bernardo, and Avi Goldfarb. 2006. Does the internet defy the law of gravity? Journal of International Economics 70(2),384-405.
     Working Paper Version      Online Appendix
Shows that Americans are more likely to visit websites from nearby countries, most likely because tastes are correlated with distance.

Goldfarb, Avi. 2006. State Dependence at Internet Portals. Journal of Economics and Management Strategy 15(2), 317-352. Estimates switching costs at Internet portals using household-specific regressions.
     Final Version
Paper contains a reference to Understanding Internet Clickstream Data.

Goldfarb, Avi. 2006. The Medium-Term Effects of Unavailability. Quantitative Marketing and Economics 4(2), 143-171.
     Working Paper Version      New Scientist article
Determines the effects of product unavailability on future choices in the context of a denial of service attack. Formerly "Why do temporary website shutdowns reduce future visits? Switching costs vs. changing preferences".

Goldfarb, Avi. 2006. The (Teaching) Role of Universities in the Diffusion of the Internet. International Journal of Industrial Organization 24(2), 203-225.
     Working Paper Version      Online Appendix
Documents and analyzes the role of educational institutions in the diffusion of the Internet.

Goldfarb, Avi, and Qiang Lu. 2006. Household-Specific Regressions Using Clickstream Data. Statistical Science 21(2), 247-255.
     Working Paper Version
Introduces clickstream data to the broader statistics community. Email me if you want to use this data set.

Forman, Chris, Avi Goldfarb, and Shane Greenstein. 2005. How Did Location Affect Adoption of the Commercial Internet: Global Village vs. Urban Leadership. Journal of Urban Economics 58(3),389-420.
     Working Paper Version
Tests opposing theories on how location influenced the diffusion of Internet technology.

Forman, Chris, Avi Goldfarb, and Shane Greenstein. 2005. How do Industry Features Influence the Role of Location on Internet Adoption? Journal of the Association of Information Systems 6(12), 383-406.
     Working Paper Version
Finds that information technology using industries are more sensitive to location than information technology producing industries.

Forman, Chris, Avi Goldfarb, and Shane Greenstein. 2005. Geographic Location and the Diffusion of Internet Technology. Electronic Commerce Research and Applications, 4(1).
     Working Paper Version
Describes how location affected business Internet adoption.

Goldfarb, Avi. 2004. Concentration in Advertising-Supported Online Markets: An Empirical Approach. Economics of Innovation and New Technology, 13(6).
     Working Paper Version
Examines the relationship between concentration and market structure for advertising-based Internet companies.

Forman, Chris, Avi Goldfarb, and Shane Greenstein. 2003. The Geographic Dispersion of Commercial Internet Use. In Rethinking Rights and Regulations: Institutional Responses to New Communication Technologies. Eds. Lorrie Faith Cranor and Steven S. Wildman. MIT Press. 113-145.
     Working Paper Version
Discusses the geographic dispersion of commercial Internet use.

Goldfarb, Avi. 2002. Analyzing Website Choice Using Clickstream Data. Advances in Applied Microeconomics v. 11: The Economics of the Internet and E-commerce. Ed. Michael Baye, Elsevier Science Ltd. 209-230.
     Working Paper Version
Uses a panel of 2600 users to better understand the reasons behind website choice.



Working Papers

Agrawal, Ajay, Christian Catalini, and Avi Goldfarb. Slack Time and Innovation
  New York Times Summary
  Quartz.com Summary
  fivethirtyeight Summary (scroll down)
Uses crowdfunding data to show that one role of slack time is to enable mundane tasks required for successful innovation.

Gans, Joshua, Avi Goldfarb, and Mara Lederman. Exit, Tweets, and Loyalty Online Appendix
Examines relationship between voice and market structure using data from twitter.

Goldfarb, Avi, and Mo Xiao. Transitory Shocks, Limited Attention, and a Firm’s Decision to Exit
Examines restaurant owners attention to transitory shocks within a structural model of the decision to go out of business.

Goldfarb, Avi, Jun Bum Kwon, and Trevor Snider. Detecting potential product segments using topological data analysis
Applies Topological Data Analysis to a market segmentation problem.

Goldfarb, Avi and Catherine Tucker. Conducting Research with Quasi-Experiments: A Guide for Marketers
Guide to quasi-experimental methods.

Campbell, James, Avi Goldfarb, and Kitty Wang. Coordinating on Design Standards: The Role of Editors
Models why an industry might cede control to a powerful editor.

Forman, Chris, Avi Goldfarb, and Shane Greenstein. Digital Dispersion: An Industrial and Geographic Census of Commercial Internet Use
Explores adoption of Internet applications in commercial establishments.

Goldfarb, Avi. Research on Digitization
Slides from the 2013 ISMS Doctoral Consortium.