The Economics of Social Data

Dirk Bergemann, Alessandro Bonatti and Tan Gan

Papers from arXiv.org

Abstract: A data intermediary acquires signals from individual consumers regarding their preferences. The intermediary resells the information in a product market wherein firms and consumers tailor their choices to the demand data. The social dimension of the individual data -- whereby a consumer's data are predictive of others' behavior -- generates a data externality that can reduce the intermediary's cost of acquiring the information. The intermediary optimally preserves the privacy of consumers' identities if and only if doing so increases social surplus. This policy enables the intermediary to capture the total value of the information as the number of consumers becomes large.

Date: 2020-04, Revised 2022-09
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-gth, nep-pay and nep-soc
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (26)

Published in The RAND Journal of Economics, 53: 263-296 (2022)

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http://arxiv.org/pdf/2004.03107 Latest version (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: The economics of social data (2022)
Working Paper: The Economics of Social Data (2021)
Working Paper: The Economics of Social Data (2021)
Working Paper: The Economics of Social Data (2020)
Working Paper: The Economics of Social Data (2020)
Working Paper: The Economics of Social Data (2020)
Working Paper: The Economics of Social Data (2019)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:arx:papers:2004.03107

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