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.

ContentsList of ContributorsIntroduction, Martin Peitz and Joel WaldfogelPART I INFRASTRUCTURE, STANDARDS, AND PLATFORMS1. Internet Infrastructure, Shane Greenstein2. Four Paths to Compatibility, Joseph Farrell and Timothy Simcoe3. Software Platforms, Andrei Hagiu4. Home Videogame Platforms, Robin S. Lee5. Digitization of Retail Payments, Wilko Bolt and Sujit Chakravorti6. Mobile Telephony, Steffen Hoernig and Tommaso Valletti7. Two-Sided B to B Platforms, Bruno JullienPART II THE TRANSFORMATION OF SELLING8. Online versus Offline Competition, Ethan Lieber and Chad Syverson9. Comparison Sites, Jos?-Luis Moraga-Gonz?lez and Matthijs Wildenbeest10. Price Discrimination in the Digital Economy, Drew Fudenberg and J. Miguel Villas-Boas11. Bundling Information Goods, Jay Pil Choi12. Internet Auctions, Ben Greiner, Axel Ockenfels, and Abdolkarim Sadrieh13. Reputation on the Internet , Lu?s Cabral14. Advertising on the Internet, Simon P.AndersonPART III USER-GENERATED CONTENT15. Incentive-Centered Design for User-Contributed Content, Lian Jian and Jeffrey K. MacKie-Mason16. Social Networks on the Web, Sanjeev Goyal17. Open Source Software, Justin P. JohnsonPART IV THREATS ARISING FROM DIGITIZATION AND THE INTERNET18. Digital Piracy: Theory, Paul Belleflamme and Martin Peitz19. Digital Piracy: Empirics, Joel Waldfogel20. The Economics of Privacy, Laura Brandimarte and Alessandro Acquisti21. Internet Security, Tyler Moore and Ross AndersonIndex