Who Benefits From Surge Pricing?
利用Uber数据建立空间均衡模型，发现动态定价相比统一定价使总福利增加2.15%的毛收入，乘客受益而司机受损，尤其影响长时间工作的女性司机。
New technologies have recently led to a boom in real‐time pricing. I study the most salient example, surge pricing in ride hailing. Using data from Uber, I develop an empirical model of spatial equilibrium to measure the welfare effects of surge pricing. The model is composed of demand, supply, and a matching technology. It allows for temporal and spatial heterogeneity as well as randomness in supply and demand. I find that, relative to a uniform pricing counterfactual in which Uber sets the overall price level, surge pricing increases total welfare by 2.15% of gross revenue. Welfare effects differ substantially across sides of the market: rider surplus increases by 3.57% of gross revenue, whereas driver surplus and the platform's current profits decrease by 0.98% and 0.50% of gross revenue, respectively. Riders at all income levels benefit. Among drivers, those who work long hours are hurt the most, especially women.