arXiv subjects

Marit Hinnosaar

Publications and source records attributed to Marit Hinnosaar.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Influencer Cartels

Social media influencers account for a growing share of marketing worldwide. We demonstrate the existence of a novel form of market failure in the 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. Drawing on the model's insights, we empirically examine influencer cartels using novel datasets and machine learning tools, and derive policy implications.

econ.GN↗

arXiv2026

Opening Hours and Consumer Behavior: Evidence from GPS Data and Deregulation

In 2019, North Dakota repealed its Sunday closing law, which had required most non-grocery stores to close between midnight and noon. Using this policy change and consumer GPS data, we study the impact of opening hours on shopping behavior and welfare. We compare visits before and after the repeal in North Dakota and neighboring states using difference-in-differences and event-study designs. The repeal caused a large increase in Sunday morning visits, originating partly from intertemporal, store-type, and cross-border substitution. The closing law's welfare loss is equivalent to increasing the travel distance to affected stores by about 1.4 miles per consumer.

econ.GN↗

arXiv2019

Externalities in Knowledge Production: Evidence from a Randomized Field Experiment

Are there positive or negative externalities in knowledge production? Do current contributions to knowledge production increase or decrease the future growth of knowledge? We use a randomized field experiment, which added relevant content to some pages in Wikipedia while leaving similar pages unchanged. We find that the addition of content has a negligible impact on the subsequent long-run growth of content. Our results have implications for information seeding and incentivizing contributions, implying that additional content does not generate sizable externalities by inspiring nor discouraging future contributions.

econ.GN↗