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16 mai 2024
- 2405.10231
Mots-clés
Economics - General Economics Computer Science - Computers and Society Computer Science - Machine LearningSujets proches
Combinations, Industrial Cartels--Law and legislation Combinations in restraint of trade Industrial combinationsCiter ce document
Marit Hinnosaar et al., « Influencer Cartels », arXiv - économie
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Résumé
Social media influencers account for a growing share of marketing worldwide. We demonstrate the existence of a novel form of market failure in this advertising market: influencer cartels, where groups of influencers collude to increase their advertising revenue by inflating their engagement. Our theoretical model shows that influencer cartels can improve consumer welfare if they expand social media engagement to the target audience, or reduce welfare if they divert engagement to less relevant audiences. We validate the model empirically using novel data on influencer cartels combined with machine learning tools, and derive policy implications for how to maximize consumer welfare.