The Oxford Handbook of the Digital Economy

The economic analysis of the digital economy has been a rapidly developing research area for more than a decade. Through authoritative examination by leading scholars, this handbook takes a closer look at particular industries, business practices, and policy issues associated with the digital industry. The volume offers an up-to-date account of key topics, discusses open questions, and provides guidance for future research. It offers a blend of theoretical and empirical works that are central to understanding the digital economy. The chapters are presented in four sections, corresponding with four broad themes: 1) infrastructure, standards, and platforms; 2) the transformation of selling, encompassing both the transformation of traditional selling and new, widespread application of tools such as auctions; 3) user-generated content; and 4) threats in the new digital environment.

The first section covers infrastructure, standards, and various platform industries that rely heavily on recent developments in electronic data storage and transmission, including software, video games, payment systems, mobile telecommunications, and B2B commerce. The second section takes account of the reduced costs of online retailing that threatens offline retailers, widespread availability of information as it affects pricing and advertising, digital technology as it allows the widespread employment of novel price and non-price strategies (bundling, price discrimination), and auctions. The third section addresses the emergent phenomenon of user-generated content on the Internet, including the functioning of social networks and open source. The fourth section discusses threats arising from digitization and the Internet, namely digital piracy, privacy, and security concerns.

Martin Peitz is Professor of Economics at the University of Mannheim. His research focuses on industrial organization, regulation, and microeconomics. He has been widely published in leading economics journals and is author of the books Industrial Organization: Markets and Strategies and Regulation and Entry into Telecommunications Markets.

Joel Waldfogel is Professor and Frederick R. Kappel Chair in Applied Economics at the Carlson School of Management, University of Minnesota. His main research interests are industrial organization and law and economics. He has published over 50 articles in scholarly outlets and authored two books, The Tyranny of the Market: Why You Can't Always Get What You Want and Scroogenomics: Why You Shouldn't Buy Presents for the Holidays.