Civic Crowdfunding for Agents with Negative Valuations and Agents with Asymmetric Beliefs

In the last decade, civic crowdfunding has proved to be effective in generating funds for the provision of public projects. However, the existing literature deals only with citizen's with positive valuation and symmetric belief towards the project's provision. In this work, we present novel mechanisms which break these two barriers, i.e., mechanisms which incorporate negative valuation and asymmetric belief, independently. For negative valuation, we present a methodology for converting existing mechanisms to mechanisms that incorporate agents with negative valuations. Particularly, we adapt existing PPR and PPS mechanisms, to present novel PPRN and PPSN mechanisms which incentivize strategic agents to contribute to the project based on their true preference. With respect to asymmetric belief, we propose a reward scheme Belief Based Reward (BBR) based on Robust Bayesian Truth Serum mechanism. With BBR, we propose a general mechanism for civic crowdfunding which incorporates asymmetric agents. We leverage PPR and PPS, to present PPRx and PPSx. We prove that in PPRx and PPSx, agents with greater belief towards the project's provision contribute more than agents with lesser belief. Further, we also show that contributions are such that the project is provisioned at equilibrium.Comment: Accepted as full paper in IJCAI 201

Combinatorial Civic Crowdfunding with Budgeted Agents: Welfare Optimality at Equilibrium and Optimal Deviation

Civic Crowdfunding (CC) uses the ``power of the crowd'' to garner contributions towards public projects. As these projects are non-excludable, agents may prefer to ``free-ride,'' resulting in the project not being funded. For single project CC, researchers propose to provide refunds to incentivize agents to contribute, thereby guaranteeing the project's funding. These funding guarantees are applicable only when agents have an unlimited budget. This work focuses on a combinatorial setting, where multiple projects are available for CC and agents have a limited budget. We study certain specific conditions where funding can be guaranteed. Further, funding the optimal social welfare subset of projects is desirable when every available project cannot be funded due to budget restrictions. We prove the impossibility of achieving optimal welfare at equilibrium for any monotone refund scheme. We then study different heuristics that the agents can use to contribute to the projects in practice. Through simulations, we demonstrate the heuristics' performance as the average-case trade-off between welfare obtained and agent utility.Comment: To appear in the Proceedings of the Thirty-Seventh AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence (AAAI '23). A preliminary version of this paper titled "Welfare Optimal Combinatorial Civic Crowdfunding with Budgeted Agents" also appeared at GAIW@AAMAS '2

Start-ups, entrepreneurial networks and equity crowdfunding : a processual perspective

This paper outlines findings from a large-scale interview based study of start-ups who obtained equity crowdfunding in the UK. It takes a novel integrative approach towards the analysis of entrepreneurial networks by examining both personal and business networks involved in the equity crowdfunding process. Adopting a processual perspective, the empirical findings show that networks and social capital play a critical role in the crowdfunding process. Start-ups leverage, build and draw upon a complex array of network actors and 'ties' as they move through the different stages of their crowdfunding journey. The paper shows that this form of funding confers important relational benefits to recipients which amount to 'more than money'. It concludes that equity crowdfunding is a highly 'relational' form of entrepreneurial finance, requiring holistic forms of empirical investigation. Implications for theoretical development, managerial practice and further research are outlined.PostprintPeer reviewe

THE NEW ENTREPRENEURIAL LANDSCAPE AND THE VALUE CO-CREATION PROCESS: THE ROLE OF THE CROWD IN THE PRE-PURCHASE CROWDFUNDING

The entrepreneurial finance landscape is changing very rapidly (Block, Colombo, Cumming, Vismara, 2018). New players have emerged, with a determinant contribution of the technological revolution. The resources interplay in the peer-to-peer business and network has led to the development of new financing instruments able to boosting innovation and the creation of new ventures. Social and economic innovation is searching new ways to emerge; this requires new models for interpreting the enlarged notion of value in the crowd/entrepreneurs relationship. Despite the rapid growth of alternative finance, the academic literature on crowdfunding as a new financing model able to reduce financing constraints for firms, still lack evidence whether and how these new players and their investment approach are transforming the entrepreneurial landscape. In particular, the reference is to the complex mix of economic and social expectations deriving from the participation to the pre-purchase crowdfunding mechanism. Findings from the explorative study suggest that the pre-purchase mechanism is leading to the configuration of new market niches, where supporters act as an informed investor and consumers. Additionally, the joint value created by the efforts made by entrepreneurs and the crowd, creates sounder positive externalities, those favor growth possibilities to survive of the new ventures

Initial Coin Offering (ICOs) : determinants of successful Initial Coin Offering (ICOs)

O objetivo desta dissertação é identificar as determinantes que influenciam o sucesso de uma Initial Coin Offering (ICO). Especificamente, este trabalho investiga diferentes abordagens usadas para lançar com sucesso uma Initial Coin Offering (ICO) e identifica os seus determinantes. Uma amostra de 206 white papers de Initial Coin Offering foi examinada para detetar se as divulgações de algumas características específicas aumentam a probabilidade das ICOs serem bem-sucedidas. O conteúdo do white paper, a classificação do site icobench e a plataforma Ethereum aumentaram a qualidade da informação e a probabilidade de sucesso das ICOs. Resultados semelhantes foram encontrados quando os ICOs são Smart contracts. Além disso, descobriu-se que o local onde as ICOs são lançadas determina o montante de dinheiro arrecadado, bem como o lançamento de um projeto ICOs em um país paraíso fiscal afeta positivamente o sucesso da ICO.The aim of this dissertation is to identify the determinants that lead Initial Coin Offering (ICO) to success. Specifically, this work investigates different approaches used to launch successful Initial Coin Offering (ICO) and identify its determinants. A sample of 206 Initial Coin Offerings white papers has been examined to detect if the disclosure of some specific characteristics increases the probability of successful ICOs. Both length of the white papers, rating of Icobench website and Ethereum platform have been found to increase the quality of information and probability of successful ICOs. Similar results have been found when ICOs are smart contracts. Moreover, the location where ICOs are launched has been found to determine the amount of money raised, and the launch of ICOs project in a tax haven country positively affects ICO success

When the crowd becomes shareholder: an enquiry on Italian Equity Crowdfunding initiatives

This thesis aims at providing a valuable contribution in the field of Italian Equity Crowdfunding, which is currently experiencing its most successful period and consequently is being characterized by continuous updates in recorded volumes; symptomatically, the amount of equity subscribed in the first nine months of 2017 has already overcome the whole subscriptions obtained since the first deal has been hosted in 2014. The main research areas that have been covered consist in the platforms’ ecosystem and the whole Italian ECF campaigns launched until September 2017; for both of them descriptive and statistical analyses have been conducted, aiming at representing in the most effective way the current status of pla