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作者

来源

来源 JOURNAL OF URBAN ECONOMICS,Vol.90,P.60-78

语言

英文

关键字

Information technology;Taste for variety;Consumption benefits of cities

作者单位

Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, 20th Street and C St N.W., Washington, DC 20551, United States;University of California Los Angeles, 8283 Bunche Hall, Los Angeles, CA 90095, United States;Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, 20th Street and C St N.W., Washington, DC 20551, United States;University of California Los Angeles, 8283 Bunche Hall, Los Angeles, CA 90095, United States

摘要

Using the food truck industry as the setting, we provide direct evidence for how information technology can complement consumption variety in cities by reducing spatial information frictions associated with locally produced goods. We document the following facts: (1) food trucks use technology to overcome a spatial information friction; (2) proliferation of technology is related to growth in food trucks; (3) food trucks use their mobility to respond to consumer taste-for-variety; and (4) growth in food trucks is positively correlated with growth in food expenditures away from home. Taken together, our results illustrate how information technology can provide a meaningful increase in variety for urban consumers.