Implications of blockchain-powered marketplace of preowned virtual goods

【Author】 Tan, Yinliang (Ricky)

【Source】PRODUCTION AND OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT

【Abstract】The first-sale doctrine, which protects consumers' rights to resell purchased products, has been recognized by the US Supreme Court since 1908. In recent years, consumers have begun to purchase an increasing amount of virtual goods, which renders the first-sale doctrine unclear. There are two main challenges leading to the uncertainty of the first-sale doctrine in the digital age: lack of proper technology, and economic implications for developers and consumers. The advent of the blockchain solves the technology challenge, as it can track provenance and establish the chain of custody. In this study, we construct an analytical model to investigate the economic impact of trading preowned virtual items. Specifically, our model captures the decentralized nature of blockchain technology by allowing consumer-to-consumer trading, and considers the possibility that consumers prefer preowned virtual items over new ones because preowned items may be upgraded between purchase and resale. Lawmakers seek to strike a balance between the interests of virtual item developers and individual consumers. We show that, surprisingly, the introduction of a blockchain-based preowned virtual item transaction can actually benefit both developer and consumer. The main intuition is that the developer can adjust the price when forward-looking consumers incorporate the expected future transaction into their purchase decision. Our analysis also reveals that developers are more willing to embrace the secondary market when they can take a cut during the transaction. Our results provide important policy implications to the burgeoning debate of the first-sale doctrine in the new digital world.

【Keywords】agency model; blockchain; distributed ledgers; preowned products trading; virtual good

【标题】区块链驱动的二手虚拟商品市场的影响

【摘要】保护消费者转售所购产品权利的首次销售原则自1908年以来就得到美国最高法院的承认。近年来，消费者开始购买越来越多的虚拟商品，从而导致了首次销售原则的不确定性。有两个主要挑战导致了数字时代首次销售原则的不确定性：适应技术的缺乏，以及对开发商和消费者的经济影响。区块链的出现解决了技术挑战，因为它可以跟踪出处并建立监管链。在这项研究中，我们构建了一个分析模型来研究交易二手虚拟物品的经济影响。具体来说，我们的模型通过允许消费者对消费者的交易来捕捉区块链技术的去中心化性质，并考虑了消费者更喜欢二手虚拟物品而不是新物品的可能性，因为二手物品可能会在购买和转售之间升级。立法者寻求在虚拟物品开发商和个人消费者的利益之间取得平衡。我们表明，令人惊讶的是，引入基于区块链的二手虚拟物品交易实际上可以使开发人员和消费者都受益。主要的直觉是，当前瞻性消费者将预期的未来交易纳入他们的购买决策时，开发商可以调整价格。我们的分析还显示，当开发商在交易中可以分得一杯羹时，他们更愿意拥抱二级市场。我们的研究结果为新数字世界中关于首次销售原则激增的辩论提供了重要的政策意义。

【关键词】代理模式；区块链；分布式账本；二手产品交易；虚拟物品

【收录时间】2022-08-16

【文献类型】Article; Early Access

【论文大主题】FT50 / UTD24

【论文小主题】技术影响与价值

【影响因子】4.638