Chiara Farronato

Glenn and Mary Jane Creamer Associate Professor of Business Administration

Chiara Farronato is Glenn and Mary Jane Creamer Associate Professor of Business Administration in the Technology and Operations Management Unit at Harvard Business School, and co-Principal Investigator of the Platform Lab at the Digital Data Design Institute (D^3) at Harvard. Her research focuses on the growth of digital platforms, such as Amazon and Airbnb. Her work explores key decisions managers need to make when crafting growth strategies that attract new users and intensify use by existing platform participants. At Harvard Business School, she teaches Data Science for Managers in the required curriculum, for which she received the 2024 Apgar Award for Innovation in Teaching.

Technology and Operations Management

+1 (617) 495-6542

Unit

Technology and Operations Management

Contact Information

(617) 495-6542

Publications

Research Summary

Teaching

Journal Articles

Journal Articles

Farronato, Chiara, Andrey Fradkin, Bradley Larsen, and Erik Brynjolfsson. "Consumer Protection in an Online World: An Analysis of Occupational Licensing." American Economic Journal: Applied Economics 16, no. 3 (July, 2024): 549–579. View Details
Farronato, Chiara, Jessica Fong, and Andrey Fradkin. "Dog Eat Dog: Balancing Network Effects and Differentiation in a Digital Platform Merger." Management Science 70, no. 1 (January 2024): 464–483. View Details
Farronato, Chiara, Andrey Fradkin, and Alexander MacKay. "Self-Preferencing at Amazon: Evidence from Search Rankings." AEA Papers and Proceedings 113 (May 2023): 239–243. View Details
Farronato, Chiara, and Andrey Fradkin. "The Welfare Effects of Peer Entry in the Accommodation Market: The Case of Airbnb and the Accommodation Industry." American Economic Review 112, no. 6 (June 2022): 1782–1817. View Details
Cullen, Zoë, and Chiara Farronato. "Outsourcing Tasks Online: Matching Supply and Demand on Peer-to-Peer Internet Platforms." Management Science 67, no. 7 (July 2021): 3985–4003. View Details
Farronato, Chiara. "Pricing Mechanisms in Online Markets." In The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics. Living edition, edited by Matias Vernengo, Esteban Perez Caldentey, and Barkley J. Rosser Jr.. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2019. View Details
Einav, Liran, Chiara Farronato, Jonathan Levin, and Neel Sundaresan. "Auctions versus Posted Prices in Online Markets." Journal of Political Economy 126, no. 1 (February 2018): 178–215. View Details
Einav, Liran, Chiara Farronato, and Jonathan Levin. "Peer-to-Peer Markets." Annual Review of Economics 8 (2016): 615–635. View Details

Managerial Articles

Managerial Articles

Cervini, Paolo, Chiara Farronato, Pushmeet Kohli, and Marshall W Van Alstyne. "Is AI the Right Tool to Solve That Problem?" Harvard Business Review (website) (December 18, 2024). View Details
Calder-Wang, Sophie, Chiara Farronato, and Andrey Fradkin. "What Does Banning Short-Term Rentals Really Accomplish?" Harvard Business Review Digital Articles (February 15, 2024). View Details
Westerman, George, Sam Ransbotham, and Chiara Farronato. "Find the AI Approach That Fits the Problem You’re Trying to Solve." Harvard Business Review Digital Articles (February 6, 2024). View Details
Farronato, Chiara, Andrey Fradkin, Andrei Hagiu, and Dionne Lomax. "Understanding the Tradeoffs of the Amazon Antitrust Case." Harvard Business Review Digital Articles (January 11, 2024). View Details
Farronato, Chiara, and Daniel Björkegren. "To Regulate Network-Based Platforms, Look at Their Data." Harvard Business Review Digital Articles (October 18, 2021). View Details
Farronato, Chiara, Marco Iansiti, Marcin Bartosiak, Stefano Denicolai, Luca Ferretti, and Roberto Fontana. "How to Get People to Actually Use Contact-Tracing Apps." Harvard Business Review Digital Articles (July 15, 2020). View Details

Working Papers

Working Papers

Farronato, Chiara, Andrey Fradkin, and Chris Karr. "Webmunk: A New Tool for Studying Online Behavior and Digital Platforms." NBER Working Paper Series, No. 32694, July 2024. View Details
Banerjee, Shrabastee, Ishita Chakraborty, Hana Choi, Hannes Datta, Remi Daviet, Chiara Farronato, Minkyung Kim, Anja Lambrecht, Puneet Manchanda, Aniko Oery, Ananya Sen, Marshall W Van Alstyne, Prasad Vana, Kenneth C Wilbur, Xu Zhang, and Bobby Zhou. "Digital Platforms 2.0: Learnings, Opportunities, and Challenges." Working Paper, June 2024. View Details
Fang, Lu, Yanyou Chen, Chiara Farronato, Zhe Yuan, and Yitong Wang. "Platform Information Provision and Consumer Search: A Field Experiment." NBER Working Paper Series, No. 32099, February 2024. View Details
Caoui, El Hadi, Chiara Farronato, John J. Horton, and Robert Schultz. "Consumer Demand with Social Influences: Evidence from an E-Commerce Platform." NBER Working Paper Series, No. 30351, August 2022. View Details
Farronato, Chiara, and Georgios Zervas. "Consumer Reviews and Regulation: Evidence from NYC Restaurants." NBER Working Paper Series, No. 29715, February 2022. View Details

Cases and Teaching Materials

Cases and Teaching Materials

Farronato, Chiara, and Gary Pisano. "Marriott International: The Next 90 Years." Harvard Business School Case 618-017, September 2017. (Revised November 2018.) View Details
Farronato, Chiara. "Marriott International: The Next 90 Years." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 620-131, May 2020. (Revised January 2022.) View Details
Farronato, Chiara, Alan MacCormack, and Sarah Mehta. "Innovation at Uber: The Launch of Express POOL." Harvard Business School Case 619-003, October 2018. (Revised July 2023.) View Details
Farronato, Chiara, and Sarah Mehta. "Innovation at Uber: The Launch of Express POOL." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 620-034, November 2019. (Revised February 2022.) View Details
Farronato, Chiara, Alan MacCormack, and Sarah Mehta. "Innovation at Uber: The Launch of Express POOL." Harvard Business School Spreadsheet Supplement 619-702, October 2018. (Revised August 2020.) View Details
Farronato, Chiara, Alan MacCormack, and Sarah Mehta. "Innovation at Uber: The Launch of Express POOL." Harvard Business School Multimedia/Video Supplement 620-702, November 2019. View Details
Farronato, Chiara, and Caleb Kwon. "Innovation at Uber: The Launch of Express POOL Assignment: Comparing Commuting and Non-Commuting Hours." Harvard Business School Supplement 622-053, January 2022. View Details
Farronato, Chiara, and Caleb Kwon. "Innovation at Uber: The Launch of Express POOL Assignment Solutions: Comparing Commuting and Non-Commuting Hours." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 622-054, January 2022. View Details
Farronato, Chiara, and Caleb Kwon. " Innovation at Uber: The Launch of Express POOL Assignment Solutions Video." Harvard Business School Multimedia/Video Supplement 622-704, January 2022. View Details
Farronato, Chiara, and Elena Corsi. "Lexoo: Building a Long-Lasting Platform." Harvard Business School Case 619-019, August 2018. (Revised February 2022.) View Details
Farronato, Chiara, and Elena Corsi. "Lexoo: Building a Long-Lasting Platform." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 620-003, July 2019. (Revised March 2022.) View Details
Farronato, Chiara, and Elena Corsi. "Lexoo: Building a Long-Lasting Platform." Harvard Business School Spreadsheet Supplement 619-701, September 2018. (Revised October 2018.) View Details
Farronato, Chiara, and Elena Corsi. "Lexoo: Building a Long-Lasting Platform Video Supplement." Harvard Business School Multimedia/Video Supplement 620-701, July 2019. View Details
Farronato, Chiara, and Elena Corsi. "Lexoo: Building a Long-Lasting Platform (Abridged)." Harvard Business School Case 622-043, August 2021. (Revised February 2022.) View Details
Farronato, Chiara, John J. Horton, Annelena Lobb, and Julia Kelley. "StockX: The Stock Market of Things." Harvard Business School Case 620-062, February 2020. (Revised April 2021.) View Details
Farronato, Chiara. "StockX: The Stock Market of Things." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 621-108, June 2021. (Revised March 2022.) View Details
Farronato, Chiara, John J. Horton, Annelena Lobb, and Julia Kelley. "StockX: The Stock Market of Things (Data Set)." Harvard Business School Spreadsheet Supplement 620-711, February 2020. (Revised April 2021.) View Details
Farronato, Chiara, John J. Horton, Annelena Lobb, and Julia Kelley. "StockX: The Stock Market of Things (Abridged)." Harvard Business School Case 621-107, April 2021. (Revised July 2021.) View Details
Farronato, Chiara, Stefano Denicolai, and Sarah Mehta. "Telepass: From Tolling to Mobility Platform." Harvard Business School Case 622-011, September 2021. (Revised December 2021.) View Details
Farronato, Chiara. "Telepass: From Tolling to Mobility Platform." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 622-089, March 2022. View Details
Farronato, Chiara, Stefano Denicolai, and Sarah Mehta. "Telepass: From Tolling to Mobility Platform." Harvard Business School Spreadsheet Supplement 622-701, September 2021. View Details
Farronato, Chiara, Stefano Denicolai, and Sarah Mehta. "Telepass: From Tolling to Mobility Platform (Abridged)." Harvard Business School Case 622-050, September 2021. (Revised December 2021.) View Details
Bojinov, Iavor I., Chiara Farronato, Janice H. Hammond, Michael Parzen, and Paul Hamilton. "Precision Paint Co." Harvard Business School Case 622-055, August 2021. View Details
Parzen, Michael, Natalie Epstein, Chiara Farronato, and Michael Toffel. T-tests: Theory and Practice. Harvard Business School Tutorial 621-707, February 2021. View Details
Farronato, Chiara, and Caleb Kwon. Getting Started in RStudio Cloud. Harvard Business School Tutorial 621-708, February 2021. View Details
Bojinov, Iavor I., Chiara Farronato, Yael Grushka-Cockayne, Willy C. Shih, and Michael W. Toffel. "Comparing Two Groups: Sampling and t-Testing." Harvard Business School Technical Note 621-044, August 2020. View Details
Farronato, Chiara, Michael W. Toffel, and Feng Zhu. "Digital Platforms: An Introduction." Harvard Business School Technical Note 621-016, July 2020. View Details

All Publications

Chiara Farronato is Glenn and Mary Jane Creamer Associate Professor of Business Administration in the Technology and Operations Management Unit at Harvard Business School, and co-Principal Investigator of the Platform Lab at the Digital Data Design Institute (D^3) at Harvard. Her research focuses on the growth of digital platforms, such as Amazon and Airbnb. Her work explores key decisions managers need to make when crafting growth strategies that attract new users and intensify use by existing platform participants. Because platform growth and, in some cases, dominance raise a host of important questions for consumers, competitors, and policymakers, her work also examines the costs and benefits of alternative regulatory policies. Prof. Farronato’s research has been published in academic journals including the American Economic Review, Journal of Political Economy, and Management Science.

A fellow at the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) and the Center for Economic Policy Research (CEPR), Prof. Farronato received her PhD in economics from Stanford University. Prior to her PhD, she studied business and economics at Bocconi University in Italy and the Catholic University of Louvain in Belgium. At Harvard Business School, she teaches Data Science for Managers in the required curriculum, for which she received the 2024 Apgar Award for Innovation in Teaching.

Journal Articles

Farronato, Chiara, Andrey Fradkin, Bradley Larsen, and Erik Brynjolfsson. "Consumer Protection in an Online World: An Analysis of Occupational Licensing." American Economic Journal: Applied Economics 16, no. 3 (July, 2024): 549–579. View Details
Farronato, Chiara, Jessica Fong, and Andrey Fradkin. "Dog Eat Dog: Balancing Network Effects and Differentiation in a Digital Platform Merger." Management Science 70, no. 1 (January 2024): 464–483. View Details
Farronato, Chiara, Andrey Fradkin, and Alexander MacKay. "Self-Preferencing at Amazon: Evidence from Search Rankings." AEA Papers and Proceedings 113 (May 2023): 239–243. View Details
Farronato, Chiara, and Andrey Fradkin. "The Welfare Effects of Peer Entry in the Accommodation Market: The Case of Airbnb and the Accommodation Industry." American Economic Review 112, no. 6 (June 2022): 1782–1817. View Details
Cullen, Zoë, and Chiara Farronato. "Outsourcing Tasks Online: Matching Supply and Demand on Peer-to-Peer Internet Platforms." Management Science 67, no. 7 (July 2021): 3985–4003. View Details
Farronato, Chiara. "Pricing Mechanisms in Online Markets." In The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics. Living edition, edited by Matias Vernengo, Esteban Perez Caldentey, and Barkley J. Rosser Jr.. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2019. View Details
Einav, Liran, Chiara Farronato, Jonathan Levin, and Neel Sundaresan. "Auctions versus Posted Prices in Online Markets." Journal of Political Economy 126, no. 1 (February 2018): 178–215. View Details
Einav, Liran, Chiara Farronato, and Jonathan Levin. "Peer-to-Peer Markets." Annual Review of Economics 8 (2016): 615–635. View Details

Managerial Articles

Cervini, Paolo, Chiara Farronato, Pushmeet Kohli, and Marshall W Van Alstyne. "Is AI the Right Tool to Solve That Problem?" Harvard Business Review (website) (December 18, 2024). View Details
Calder-Wang, Sophie, Chiara Farronato, and Andrey Fradkin. "What Does Banning Short-Term Rentals Really Accomplish?" Harvard Business Review Digital Articles (February 15, 2024). View Details
Westerman, George, Sam Ransbotham, and Chiara Farronato. "Find the AI Approach That Fits the Problem You’re Trying to Solve." Harvard Business Review Digital Articles (February 6, 2024). View Details
Farronato, Chiara, Andrey Fradkin, Andrei Hagiu, and Dionne Lomax. "Understanding the Tradeoffs of the Amazon Antitrust Case." Harvard Business Review Digital Articles (January 11, 2024). View Details
Farronato, Chiara, and Daniel Björkegren. "To Regulate Network-Based Platforms, Look at Their Data." Harvard Business Review Digital Articles (October 18, 2021). View Details
Farronato, Chiara, Marco Iansiti, Marcin Bartosiak, Stefano Denicolai, Luca Ferretti, and Roberto Fontana. "How to Get People to Actually Use Contact-Tracing Apps." Harvard Business Review Digital Articles (July 15, 2020). View Details

Working Papers

Farronato, Chiara, Andrey Fradkin, and Chris Karr. "Webmunk: A New Tool for Studying Online Behavior and Digital Platforms." NBER Working Paper Series, No. 32694, July 2024. View Details
Banerjee, Shrabastee, Ishita Chakraborty, Hana Choi, Hannes Datta, Remi Daviet, Chiara Farronato, Minkyung Kim, Anja Lambrecht, Puneet Manchanda, Aniko Oery, Ananya Sen, Marshall W Van Alstyne, Prasad Vana, Kenneth C Wilbur, Xu Zhang, and Bobby Zhou. "Digital Platforms 2.0: Learnings, Opportunities, and Challenges." Working Paper, June 2024. View Details
Fang, Lu, Yanyou Chen, Chiara Farronato, Zhe Yuan, and Yitong Wang. "Platform Information Provision and Consumer Search: A Field Experiment." NBER Working Paper Series, No. 32099, February 2024. View Details
Caoui, El Hadi, Chiara Farronato, John J. Horton, and Robert Schultz. "Consumer Demand with Social Influences: Evidence from an E-Commerce Platform." NBER Working Paper Series, No. 30351, August 2022. View Details
Farronato, Chiara, and Georgios Zervas. "Consumer Reviews and Regulation: Evidence from NYC Restaurants." NBER Working Paper Series, No. 29715, February 2022. View Details

Cases and Teaching Materials

Farronato, Chiara, and Gary Pisano. "Marriott International: The Next 90 Years." Harvard Business School Case 618-017, September 2017. (Revised November 2018.) View Details
Farronato, Chiara. "Marriott International: The Next 90 Years." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 620-131, May 2020. (Revised January 2022.) View Details
Farronato, Chiara, Alan MacCormack, and Sarah Mehta. "Innovation at Uber: The Launch of Express POOL." Harvard Business School Case 619-003, October 2018. (Revised July 2023.) View Details
Farronato, Chiara, and Sarah Mehta. "Innovation at Uber: The Launch of Express POOL." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 620-034, November 2019. (Revised February 2022.) View Details
Farronato, Chiara, Alan MacCormack, and Sarah Mehta. "Innovation at Uber: The Launch of Express POOL." Harvard Business School Spreadsheet Supplement 619-702, October 2018. (Revised August 2020.) View Details
Farronato, Chiara, Alan MacCormack, and Sarah Mehta. "Innovation at Uber: The Launch of Express POOL." Harvard Business School Multimedia/Video Supplement 620-702, November 2019. View Details
Farronato, Chiara, and Caleb Kwon. "Innovation at Uber: The Launch of Express POOL Assignment: Comparing Commuting and Non-Commuting Hours." Harvard Business School Supplement 622-053, January 2022. View Details
Farronato, Chiara, and Caleb Kwon. "Innovation at Uber: The Launch of Express POOL Assignment Solutions: Comparing Commuting and Non-Commuting Hours." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 622-054, January 2022. View Details
Farronato, Chiara, and Caleb Kwon. " Innovation at Uber: The Launch of Express POOL Assignment Solutions Video." Harvard Business School Multimedia/Video Supplement 622-704, January 2022. View Details
Farronato, Chiara, and Elena Corsi. "Lexoo: Building a Long-Lasting Platform." Harvard Business School Case 619-019, August 2018. (Revised February 2022.) View Details
Farronato, Chiara, and Elena Corsi. "Lexoo: Building a Long-Lasting Platform." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 620-003, July 2019. (Revised March 2022.) View Details
Farronato, Chiara, and Elena Corsi. "Lexoo: Building a Long-Lasting Platform." Harvard Business School Spreadsheet Supplement 619-701, September 2018. (Revised October 2018.) View Details
Farronato, Chiara, and Elena Corsi. "Lexoo: Building a Long-Lasting Platform Video Supplement." Harvard Business School Multimedia/Video Supplement 620-701, July 2019. View Details
Farronato, Chiara, and Elena Corsi. "Lexoo: Building a Long-Lasting Platform (Abridged)." Harvard Business School Case 622-043, August 2021. (Revised February 2022.) View Details
Farronato, Chiara, John J. Horton, Annelena Lobb, and Julia Kelley. "StockX: The Stock Market of Things." Harvard Business School Case 620-062, February 2020. (Revised April 2021.) View Details
Farronato, Chiara. "StockX: The Stock Market of Things." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 621-108, June 2021. (Revised March 2022.) View Details
Farronato, Chiara, John J. Horton, Annelena Lobb, and Julia Kelley. "StockX: The Stock Market of Things (Data Set)." Harvard Business School Spreadsheet Supplement 620-711, February 2020. (Revised April 2021.) View Details
Farronato, Chiara, John J. Horton, Annelena Lobb, and Julia Kelley. "StockX: The Stock Market of Things (Abridged)." Harvard Business School Case 621-107, April 2021. (Revised July 2021.) View Details
Farronato, Chiara, Stefano Denicolai, and Sarah Mehta. "Telepass: From Tolling to Mobility Platform." Harvard Business School Case 622-011, September 2021. (Revised December 2021.) View Details
Farronato, Chiara. "Telepass: From Tolling to Mobility Platform." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 622-089, March 2022. View Details
Farronato, Chiara, Stefano Denicolai, and Sarah Mehta. "Telepass: From Tolling to Mobility Platform." Harvard Business School Spreadsheet Supplement 622-701, September 2021. View Details
Farronato, Chiara, Stefano Denicolai, and Sarah Mehta. "Telepass: From Tolling to Mobility Platform (Abridged)." Harvard Business School Case 622-050, September 2021. (Revised December 2021.) View Details
Bojinov, Iavor I., Chiara Farronato, Janice H. Hammond, Michael Parzen, and Paul Hamilton. "Precision Paint Co." Harvard Business School Case 622-055, August 2021. View Details
Parzen, Michael, Natalie Epstein, Chiara Farronato, and Michael Toffel. T-tests: Theory and Practice. Harvard Business School Tutorial 621-707, February 2021. View Details
Farronato, Chiara, and Caleb Kwon. Getting Started in RStudio Cloud. Harvard Business School Tutorial 621-708, February 2021. View Details
Bojinov, Iavor I., Chiara Farronato, Yael Grushka-Cockayne, Willy C. Shih, and Michael W. Toffel. "Comparing Two Groups: Sampling and t-Testing." Harvard Business School Technical Note 621-044, August 2020. View Details
Farronato, Chiara, Michael W. Toffel, and Feng Zhu. "Digital Platforms: An Introduction." Harvard Business School Technical Note 621-016, July 2020. View Details

Research Summary

Overview

Based on a broad interest in the economics of innovation and the Internet, Professor Farronato concentrates her research on the evolution of e-commerce and peer-to-peer online platforms, including platform adoption, economies of scale, and drivers of heterogeneous platform success.

Professor Farronato has investigated such phenomena as the shift in e-commerce from auctions to posted prices; matching supply and demand on peer-to-peer platforms for local and time-senstive services; and the effect of peer-to-peer entry on the market structure of existing industries.

More recently, Professor Farronato has been focusing on novel ways to collect consumer data to study the challenges that platform growth creates for their users, competitors, and regulators.

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Keywords: Digital Platforms; Antitrust; Network Effects; E-Commerce Strategy

Teaching

Data Science for Managers

This new course is taught as a required course in the first year MBA curriculum as of a.y. 2023-2024. It provides students with the foundations of data science to become effective data-driven managers. The course covers the basics of visualization, statistical and causal inference, and prediction to obtain data-driven insights for important business decisions. Students will also learn data science strategy and leadership, with particular focus on how to successfully lead a data-driven organization.

Technology and Operations Management

This course is taught in the MBA required curriculum. It provides students with the foundations necessary to be effective operating managers. During the course students learn to analyze decisions that drive the design, planning, and execution of the activities that translate strategy into action. The course spans a variety of operational contexts, from manufacturing to service organizations, from supply chains and networks to digital platforms.

Additional Information

Areas of Interest

In The News

Chiara Farronato

Glenn and Mary Jane Creamer Associate Professor of Business Administration

Glenn and Mary Jane Creamer Associate Professor of Business Administration

Journal Articles

Journal Articles

Managerial Articles

Managerial Articles

Working Papers

Working Papers

Cases and Teaching Materials

Cases and Teaching Materials

In The News

Picture This: Why Online Image Searches Drive Purchases

Navigating the Mood of Customers Weary of Price Hikes

Female Professors at HBS Series: Chiara Farronato

How Much More Would Holiday Shoppers Pay to Wear Something Rare?

Burgers with Bugs? What Happens When Restaurants Ignore Online Reviews