The next RITM Economics Seminar will be held on Monday, September 22, 2025, from 12:15 to 13:15 in room Gaudemet (Sceaux).
Hugo Allouard (ESSEC Business School) will present his paper “Consumers’ Privacy Sensitivity in Digital Markets: Evidence from the Mobile App Industry.”
Abstract: While prior research consistently documents that individuals exhibit sensitivity to privacy, the magnitude of this sensitivity varies substantially between experimental and market-based evidence, leaving open questions regarding its true extent. This paper addresses this gap by estimating a structural demand model using real-market data from the mobile gaming industry between 2015 and 2021 in Canada, France, Germany, and the United States. The analysis shows that failing to account for quality improvements associated with the use of personal data leads to a systematic underestimation of both willingness to pay and privacy sensitivity. Once this factor is incorporated, estimates of willingness to pay converge toward those obtained in experimental settings. Furthermore, the results indicate that privacy sensitivity has increased over time, while notable cross-country heterogeneity persists.
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Link to the RITM Economics seminar web page