Working Paper: NBER ID: w26900
Authors: Guy Aridor; Yeonkoo Che; Tobias Salz
Abstract: Utilizing a novel dataset from an online travel intermediary, we study the effects of EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The opt-in requirement of GDPR resulted in 12.5% drop in the intermediary-observed consumers, but the remaining consumers are trackable for a longer period of time. Our findings imply that privacy conscious consumers exert privacy externalities on opt-in consumers, making them more predictable. Consistent with this finding, the average value of the remaining consumers to advertisers has increased, offsetting some of the losses from consumer opt-outs.
Keywords: No keywords provided
JEL Codes: K24; L0; L5; L81
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| GDPR (K24) | reduction in total cookies observed (Y10) |
| GDPR (K24) | increase in trackability of remaining consumers (D19) |
| GDPR opt-outs (Y10) | substitution for other privacy tools (K24) |
| infrequent users of websites (C91) | more likely to opt out (J26) |
| remaining consumers (D16) | increase in average value to advertisers (D46) |