NBER WORKING PAPER SERIES
THE WELFARE EFFECTS OF PEER ENTRY IN THE ACCOMMODATION MARKET:
THE CASE OF AIRBNB
Chiara Farronato
Andrey Fradkin
Working Paper 24361
http://www.nber.org/papers/w24361
NATIONAL BUREAU OF ECONOMIC RESEARCH
1050 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02138
February 2018
Katie Marlowe and Max Yixuan provided outstanding research assistance. We thank Nikhil
Agarwal, Susan Athey, Matt Backus, Liran Einav, Christopher Knittel, Jonathan Levin, Greg
Lewis, Chris Nosko, Debi Mohapatra, Ariel Pakes, Paulo Somaini, Sonny Tambe, Dan
Waldinger, Ken Wilbur, Kevin Williams, Georgios Zervas, and numerous seminar participants
for feedback. We are indebted to Airbnb’s employees, in particular Peter Coles, Mike Egesdal,
Riley Newman, and Igor Popov, for sharing data and insights. We also thank Duane Vinson at
STR and Sergey Shebalov at Sabre for sharing valuable data insights. Airbnb reviewed the paper
to make sure that required confidential information was reported accurately. STR reviewed the
paper to verify that all data and information provided by STR and the STR SHARE Center were
correctly cited. Farronato has no material financial relationship with entities related to this
research. Fradkin was previously an employee of Airbnb, Inc. and holds stock that may constitute
a material financial position. The views expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily
reflect the views of the National Bureau of Economic Research.
NBER working papers are circulated for discussion and comment purposes. They have not been
peer-reviewed or been subject to the review by the NBER Board of Directors that accompanies
official NBER publications.
© 2018 by Chiara Farronato and Andrey Fradkin. All rights reserved. Short sections of text, not
to exceed two paragraphs, may be quoted without explicit permission provided that full credit,
including © notice, is given to the source.
The Welfare Effects of Peer Entry in the Accommodation Market: The Case of Airbnb
Chiara Farronato and Andrey Fradkin
NBER Wo