eprintid: 18609
rev_number: 15
eprint_status: archive
userid: 1482
importid: 105
dir: disk0/00/01/86/09
datestamp: 2015-11-05 15:11:35
lastmod: 2023-09-11 07:51:59
status_changed: 2016-04-18 09:55:54
type: article
metadata_visibility: show
creators_name: Cornière, Alexandre de
creators_name: Taylor, Greg
creators_idrefppn: 167271318
title: Integration and Search Engine Bias
ispublished: pub
subjects: subjects_ECO
abstract: Competition authorities all over the world worry that integration between search engines (mainly Google) and publishers could lead to abuses of dominant position. In particular, one concern is that of own-content bias, meaning that Google would bias its rankings in favor of the publishers it owns or has an interest in, to the detriment of competitors and users. In order to investigate this issue, we develop a theoretical framework in which the search engine (i) allocates users across publishers, and (ii) competes with publishers to attract advertisers. We show that the search engine is biased against publishers that display many ads -- even without integration. Although integration may lead to own-content bias, it can also reduce bias by increasing the value of a marginal consumer to the search engine. Integration also has a positive effect on users by reducing the nuisance costs due to excessive advertising. Its net effect is therefore ambiguous in general, and we provide sufficient conditions for it to be desirable or not.
date: 2014
date_type: published
official_url: http://tse-fr.eu/pub/29848
faculty: tse
divisions: tse
keywords: search engine
keywords: integration
keywords: advertising
language: en
has_fulltext: FALSE
view_date_year: 2014
full_text_status: none
publication: The RAND Journal of Economics
volume: 45
number: 3
pagerange: 576-597
refereed: TRUE
oai_identifier: oai:tse-fr.eu:29848
harvester_local_overwrite: oai_set
harvester_local_overwrite: faculty
harvester_local_overwrite: site
harvester_local_overwrite: publication
harvester_local_overwrite: creators_idrefppn
harvester_local_overwrite: pending
harvester_local_overwrite: creators_name
oai_lastmod: 2016-04-07T15:27:37Z
oai_set: tse
oai_set: ut1c
site: ut1
citation:   Cornière, Alexandre de <https://www.idref.fr/167271318> and Taylor, Greg  (2014) Integration and Search Engine Bias.    The RAND Journal of Economics, 45 (3).  pp. 576-597.