Economics and E-Commerce

Assignments

Courtesy of Gaston Illanes. Used with permission.

PROBLEM SET #	SOLUTIONS
Problem Set 1 (PDF) Data for Problem Set 1 (XLS) Assigned Products (XLS)	Problem Set 1 Solutions (PDF)
Problem Set 2 (PDF)	Problem Set 2 Solutions (PDF)
Problem Set 3 (PDF)	Problem Set 3 Solutions (PDF)
Problem Set 4 (PDF)	Problem Set 4 Solutions (PDF)

End of Semester Project

Write an essay (8–10 pages) and deliver a presentation (30 minutes) on an e-commerce-related topic you think is interesting. I can imagine three types of projects (but there could be others.)

1. Describe an online market or industry
   • Offline antecedents.
   • What’s new / different.
   • Economic issues-This discussion should be informed by economic models you see in this course or others.
2. Ask a question, gather data, analyze data, and then answer your question.
   • How does the time that an auction ends on eBay affect the revenue of the seller?
   • What happened to newspaper circulation in a city when Craigslist entered that city?
3. Give us a preponderance of useful facts.
   • For example: How much price variation is there within titles for used books? Do the title’s characteristics seem to matter? Does it vary across used book listing sites?

Student Examples

(Courtesy of MIT students. Used with permission.)

“The Interaction of Different Players in the Online Food Ordering Industry.” (PDF)

“Etsy Online Market Analysis.” (PDF - 2.4MB)