AI in marketplace matching: a conceptual map and research plan
A map of the layers where AI shapes the allocation of supply and demand, separating what an algorithm can improve from what it cannot create.
Library
Research
Methods, conceptual papers, and industry reviews with explicit versions and limitations.
Research programme
Central question: how does two-sided market architecture turn matching quality into durable economic value?
- Liquidity and matching quality measurement by micro-market.
- Supply quality, activation, and saturation.
- How operating architecture connects to revenue and unit economics.
- Scoring, ranking, and feedback-loop risks in AI systems.
Working hypotheses
These are not established theories. Each records its evidence state, counterarguments and falsification conditions.
- Supply is not liquidity.
- Seller count is not marketplace health.
- Averages can hide scarcity and saturation at the same time.
- AI can improve allocation but cannot create absent demand.
How public marketplaces define their own metrics
Fifteen metric definitions from the annual reports of seven public marketplaces: identical names describe different quantities.
State of Marketplace Liquidity: a research protocol
An open protocol for an annual study of marketplace liquidity: units of analysis, measures, data requirements, sensitivity tests, and non-claims.
Supply without Demand: a research protocol
A protocol for testing when additional supply may weaken matching, supplier economics, or the platform's system outcome.
Marketplace Health Index: a research protocol
A protocol for evaluating whether marketplace health can be summarised without arbitrary aggregation or false precision.