TY  - BOOK
AU  - Agrawal,Ajay K.
AU  - Catalini,Christian
AU  - Goldfarb,Avi
ED  - National Bureau of Economic Research.
TI  - Some Simple Economics of Crowdfunding
T2  - NBER working paper series
PY  - 2013///
CY  - Cambridge, Mass.
PB  - National Bureau of Economic Research
N1  - June 2013; Hardcopy version available to institutional subscribers
N2  - It is not surprising that the financing of early-stage creative projects and ventures is typically geographically localized since these types of funding decisions are usually predicated on personal relationships and due diligence requiring face-to-face interactions in response to high levels of risk, uncertainty, and information asymmetry. So, to economists, the recent rise of crowdfunding - raising capital from many people through an online platform - which offers little opportunity for careful due diligence and involves not only friends and family but also many strangers from near and far, is initially startling. On the eve of launching equity-based crowdfunding, a new market for early-stage finance in the U.S., we provide a preliminary exploration of its underlying economics. We highlight the extent to which economic theory, in particular transaction costs, reputation, and market design, can explain the rise of non-equity crowdfunding and offer a framework for speculating on how equity-based crowdfunding may unfold. We conclude by articulating open questions related to how crowdfunding may affect social welfare and the rate and direction of innovation
UR  - https://www.nber.org/papers/w19133
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.3386/w19133
ER  -