Global e-commerce platforms provide a promising avenue that connects sellers and buyers from different parts of the world. Exporting used to be an activity that was exclusive to large firms; today, e-commerce provides an opportunity for all types of firms, especially small firms, to export—the...

Micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) are recognized as crucial drivers of economic development, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. The advent of digital platforms, characterized by economies of scale and significant cross-network externalities in two-sided markets,...

Global e-commerce platforms present new export opportunities for small and medium-sized enterprises in developing countries by significantly lowering the entry barriers of exporting. However, the lack of market selection can lead to a large number of online firms competing for consumers'...

We study how search and information frictions shape market dynamics in global e-commerce. Observational data and self-collected quality measures from AliExpress establish the existence of search and information frictions. A randomized experiment that offers new exporters exogenous demand and...

Online service marketplaces allow service buyers to post their project requests and service providers to bid for them. In order to reduce the transactional risks, marketplaces typically track and publish previous seller performance. By analyzing a detailed transactional dataset with more than...