Demand Interactions in Sharing Economies: Evidence from a Natural Experiment Involving Airbnb and Uber/Lyft

The authors examine whether and how ride-sharing services influence the demand for home-sharing services. Their identification strategy hinges on a natural experiment in which Uber/Lyft exited Austin, Texas, in May 2016 due to local regulation. Using a 12-month longitudinal data set of 11,536 Airbnb properties, they find that Uber/Lyft's exit led to a 14% decrease in Airbnb occupancy in Austin. In response, hosts decreased the nightly rate by...