Consumption Externalities: Review and Future Research Opportunities

An extensive literature review of consumption externalities is presented in this article. The review is classified into four sections: network externality, indirect network externality, congestion externality, and cross-consumer externality. The review of network externality is a fundamental part of this paper. In this paper, we first suggest two dimensions and provide a classification on consumption externalities. Similarities and dissimilarities among them are contrasted. We next review the literature on consumption externalities in four sections. Finally, we raise research opportunities, which can be further explored in four fields.