| This thesis is composed of three papers on the subject of peer-to-peer sharing of durable goods, e.g., cars, bikes, gadgets, and household appliances. The first paper studies pricing and product design decisions of a single-product monopolist in a market. We identify the conditions under which a firm would accommodate or hinder peer-to-peer sharing by pricing the product appropriately. We find that the firm's profit can be enhanced only when the consumer valuation heterogeneity is neither too high nor too low, and the product's intrinsic value is sufficiently high. In addition, we show that sharing does not always improve consumer access to products. Furthermore, some consumers may end up being worse off. Finally, we find that social sharing may enhance or impede product innovation.;In the second paper, we study whether social sharing will encourage or discourage product differentiation. We find that the two ways of expanding the market, one consumer-initiated and one firm-initiated, can be strategic complements or substitutes. We also extend the study by allowing consumers to endogenously choose their sharing group size, and show that it may enhance or worsen the firm's profit.;The third paper focuses on the environmental impact stemming from production and consumption, in the presence of peer-to-peer sharing. We show that a "danger" zone exists where sharing is profitable for the firm but is not friendly to the environment. When the firm has an influence on the sharing group size, the economic incentive and environmental impact can be aligned. Specifically, we find that stronger congestion effects may induce the producer to promote sharing in larger groups, which in turn results in a more positive environmental impact. Such situations are more likely to occur when the product unit cost is large. Moreover, we characterize conditions under which the firm may prefer heterogeneous networks composed of groups with different sizes or social networks with lower homophily, and meanwhile the environmental impact can be improved. |
