Platform Search Design: The Roles of Precision and Price

This paper, previously titled “Targeted Search and Platform Design,” is based on the author’s dissertation for his PhD in business administration at the University of California, Berkeley. The author dedicates the paper to the memory of John Morgan, the co-chair of his dissertation committee, who was a constant inspiration throughout the author’s years of graduate school. He is indebted to his other dissertation committee members, Ganesh Iyer (co-chair), Zsolt Katona, and Ben Handel. The author thanks the senior editor, associate editor, two anonymous reviewers, Yuichiro Kamada, Steve Tadelis, Przemyslaw Jeziorski, and Heski Bar-Isaac for their comments, as well as seminar participants at the University of Florida, University of Texas, Dallas, University of Minnesota, University of Rochester, University of Toronto, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Chinese University of Hong Kong, National University of Singapore, Northwestern University, New York University, Shanghai, the 2016 NET Institute Conference, and the 2017 Marketing Science conference for helpful suggestions. All errors are the author’s own.