{"title":"Gender and racial price disparities in the NFT marketplace","authors":"Yuan Yuan, Xiao Liu, Shunyuan Zhang, Kannan Srinivasan","doi":"10.1016/j.ijresmar.2024.08.008","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"This paper empirically investigates the causal impact of avatar gender and race on transaction prices within the Non-Fungible Token (NFT) marketplace. The impetus behind this investigation is grounded in the observation that NFT investors frequently represent a younger, wealthier, and politically progressive demographic, which raises the question of whether this marketplace is less susceptible to prejudice and social bias. Contrary to such expectations, our analysis reveals pronounced gender and racial disparities in NFT prices. Specifically, CryptoPunks avatars are transacted at a 36.8% lower price compared to their counterparts (i.e., avatars with similar image attributes), while CryptoPunks avatars are transacted at a 30.7% lower price compared to their counterparts. We further identify that avatar features linked to high-tech or higher education attributes (e.g., 3D glasses, Virtual Reality glasses, Nerd glasses) can effectively counter these disparities. We verify the causal patterns revealed in the NFT dataset with a controlled experiment, where NFT buyers are randomly shown the comparable avatars that exhibit variations in race or gender, enabling us to evaluate the impact of these attributes on buyer choices and willingness-to-pay. The experiment confirms the (male) and (white) price premium in the NFT market and suggests that buyers exhibit a preference for NFT avatars resembling their personal identity. We offer insights into policy strategies aimed at promoting racial and gender equity within the NFT marketplace.","PeriodicalId":48298,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Research in Marketing","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":5.9000,"publicationDate":"2024-08-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"International Journal of Research in Marketing","FirstCategoryId":"91","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijresmar.2024.08.008","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"BUSINESS","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
This paper empirically investigates the causal impact of avatar gender and race on transaction prices within the Non-Fungible Token (NFT) marketplace. The impetus behind this investigation is grounded in the observation that NFT investors frequently represent a younger, wealthier, and politically progressive demographic, which raises the question of whether this marketplace is less susceptible to prejudice and social bias. Contrary to such expectations, our analysis reveals pronounced gender and racial disparities in NFT prices. Specifically, CryptoPunks avatars are transacted at a 36.8% lower price compared to their counterparts (i.e., avatars with similar image attributes), while CryptoPunks avatars are transacted at a 30.7% lower price compared to their counterparts. We further identify that avatar features linked to high-tech or higher education attributes (e.g., 3D glasses, Virtual Reality glasses, Nerd glasses) can effectively counter these disparities. We verify the causal patterns revealed in the NFT dataset with a controlled experiment, where NFT buyers are randomly shown the comparable avatars that exhibit variations in race or gender, enabling us to evaluate the impact of these attributes on buyer choices and willingness-to-pay. The experiment confirms the (male) and (white) price premium in the NFT market and suggests that buyers exhibit a preference for NFT avatars resembling their personal identity. We offer insights into policy strategies aimed at promoting racial and gender equity within the NFT marketplace.
期刊介绍:
The International Journal of Research in Marketing is an international, double-blind peer-reviewed journal for marketing academics and practitioners. Building on a great tradition of global marketing scholarship, IJRM aims to contribute substantially to the field of marketing research by providing a high-quality medium for the dissemination of new marketing knowledge and methods. Among IJRM targeted audience are marketing scholars, practitioners (e.g., marketing research and consulting professionals) and other interested groups and individuals.