Internet and Digital Economics

Edited by Éric Brousseau and Nicolas Curien
Cambridge University Press, 2007

This book analyzes how the Internet is a laboratory where new ways of organizing economic activities are invented and tested. More than 20 contributions written by leading scholars in the field provide a consistent analysis of key issues as the development of open source software and on-line communities, peer-to-peer and of on-line sharing of cultural goods, electronic markets and the raise of new information intermediaries, e-retailing and e-banking, etc. It aims to provide the reader with analyses of the current development of the “Information Society” and with a consistent analytical framework to understand the emergence of a what is often referred to as a “New Economy” since the models invented on digital networks are inspiring decision makers in many fields of economic and social life. This book should be of value for a wide audience of scholars, students and practitioners in all areas of social sciences.

Introduction

Toward a New Economy ?

On-line Communities

Network Externalities and Market Microstructures

Producing, Distributing and Sharing Information Goods

How e-Markets Perform

Evolving Institutional Infrastructures

The impacts of the Internet at the macro level