Platform providers in the sharing economy such as AirBnB face a trade-off between providing information on the object of the transaction and providing more information about the transaction partner. We view this trade-off from an economic perspective as the choice between complete or relational contracts. Using a global data set of AirBnB listings, we empirically compare the strength of influence of premises-specific versus host-specific information on pricing on that platform. The results indicate that partner-specific information in fact has only a comparatively weak influence on prices. This sheds critical light on the frequently used argument that in the sharing economy, personal information is essential to establish the necessary trust between transaction partners. We also find that the importance of premises-specific versus partner-specific information varies with the type of premises being rented.

共享经济中的平台提供商（例如 AirBnB）面临着提供交易对象信息和提供更多交易伙伴信息之间的权衡。我们从经济角度将这种权衡视为完整合同或关系合同之间的选择。使用Airbnb列表的全球数据集，我们凭经验比较了特定场所信息与特定主机信息对该平台定价的影响强度。结果表明，特定于合作伙伴的信息实际上对价格的影响相对较弱。这揭示了在共享经济中经常使用的论点，个人信息对于在交易伙伴之间建立必要的信任至关重要。