Spatial Distribution of Access to Service: Theory and Evidence from Ride-Sharing

• 成果类型: Article; Early Access
• 署名作者: Ghili, Soheil; Kumar, Vineet; Teng, Fei
• 署名单位: Yale University; National University of Singapore
• 刊物名称: MANAGEMENT SCIENCE
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0025-1909
• DOI: 10.1287/mnsc.2021.02699
• 发表日期: 2026
• 关键词: ride-sharing; spatial markets; transportation; economies of density; market thickness

摘要

We study access to ride-sharing across geographical regions using both theoretical and empirical analyses. We specifically model and examine the effects of economies of density in ride-sharing. Our model predicts that (i) economies of density skew access to ride-sharing away from less dense regions; (ii) the skew will be more pronounced for smaller platforms (i.e., thinner markets); and (iii) ride-sharing platforms do not find this skew efficient and thus, use price and wage levers to mitigate (but not eliminate) it. We show that these insights are robust to whether the source of economies of density is the supply side or the demand side. We then calibrate our model using ride-level Uber data from New York City. We use the model to simulate counterfactual scenarios, offering a quantitative evaluation of our theoretical results and informing platform strategy and policy.