Should Buyers or Sellers Organize Trade in a Frictional Market?*
研究了存在搜索摩擦的市场中，由买方还是卖方组织交易更有效率，取决于供需弹性、参与成本和匹配对称性，并解释了商品市场、劳动力市场和资产市场中不同组织模式的原因。
To answer the question in the title, this article characterizes the socially efficient organization of the market with search frictions. The efficient organization depends on the relative elasticity in the supply between the two sides of the market, the costs of participating in the market and organizing trade, and the (a)symmetry in matching. We also show that the social optimum can be implemented by a realistic market equilibrium where the organizers set up trading sites to direct the other side’s search. The results provide a unified explanation for why trade has often been organized by sellers in the goods market, by buyers (firms) in the labor market, and by both sides in the asset market. The analysis also sheds light on how the efficient market organization can change with innovations such as e-commerce and just-in-time production.