Digital Economics How Information Technology Has Transformed Business Thinking

Subjects:

• Business » E-Commerce/Internet
• Business » Computers/Business Technology
• Business » Business & Public Policy
• Economics » Microeconomics

Reviews:

• Nobel laureate Robert Solow's observation that "you can see the computer revolution everywhere but in the productivity statistics" touched off a torrent of research on productivity gains from computer usage. Results of that research have been a mixed bag according to McKenzie only recently has there been any indication that computers contribute to increasing productivity. The first part of McKenzie's book deals with just this problem. He then examines other equally interesting aspects of information technology, introducing new terms (e.g., network effects, network externalities, lagged demands, tipping, dependency, feedback effects, switching costs, lock-ins) as he examines the economic aspects of how digitization has changed the economy and the way business is conducted....Explanations and arguments are accessible to anyone with an introductory economics background. For serious researchers, footnotes and bibliography provide thorough documentation. Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduate through professional collections.
  —Choice January 2004

Table of Contents:

• Preface
• The Spread of 1's and 0's in the World
• The Productivity Paradox
• Digital Costs and Production Choices
• Firm Sizes and Disruptive Technologies
• Network Effects
• Tipping and Path Dependency
• Switching Costs
• Emailing and Surfing in the Workplace
• Intellectual Property Rights
• Piracy and Privacy
• Antitrust
• Selected Bibliography
• Index