Somogyi’s project awarded a NET Institute Summer Grant

Deceptive Products on Platforms, Robert Somogyi’s joint project with Johannes Johnen (CORE, UCLouvain) has received a NET Institute Summer Grant.

The project investigates online platforms’ incentives to educate consumers about hidden prices that sellers may try charging them.  When will Skyscanner or Google Flights warn consumers about large additional luggage fees? What are the incentives of Amazon and eBay to show shipping fees or VAT in the initial search results? The first draft of the paper analyzing these issues will be available in the Fall as a NET Institute Working Paper. 

The NET Institute funds a number of scientific research projects in the area of network industries, including wired and wireless networks, “virtual networks,” electronic commerce, telecommunications, the Internet, platforms, and two-sided markets. It is expected that funded research will eventually be published in top academic research journals. The NET Institute’s board of directors consists of

  1. Dr. Vinton G. Cerf, Vice President & Chief Internet Evangelist, Google
  2. Professor Nicholas Economides, Stern School of Business, New York University (Executive Director)
  3. David A. Heiner,Vice President & Deputy General Counsel, Microsoft Corporation
  4. Dr. Nathan Myhrvold, CEO, Intellectual Ventures
  5. Professor Ariel Pakes, Economics Department, Harvard University.