IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/pubeco/v173y2019icp113-124.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Privacy and personal data collection with information externalities

Author

Listed:
  • Choi, Jay Pil
  • Jeon, Doh-Shin
  • Kim, Byung-Cheol

Abstract

We provide a theoretical model of privacy in which data collection requires consumers' consent and consumers are fully aware of the consequences of such consent. Nonetheless, excessive collection of personal information arises in the monopoly market equilibrium which results in excessive loss of privacy compared to the social optimum. The main mechanism for this result is information externalities and users' coordination failure in which some users' decision to share their personal information may allow the data controller to infer more information about non-users. We also show that the emergence of data brokerage industry can facilitate the collection and monetization of users' personal data even in a fragmented market where no individual website has incentives to do so independently due to scale economies in data analytics. We discuss policy implications of our analysis in light of the recent EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

Suggested Citation

  • Choi, Jay Pil & Jeon, Doh-Shin & Kim, Byung-Cheol, 2019. "Privacy and personal data collection with information externalities," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 173(C), pages 113-124.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:pubeco:v:173:y:2019:i:c:p:113-124
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jpubeco.2019.02.001
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0047272719300131
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jpubeco.2019.02.001?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version below or search for a different version of it.

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Andrew F. Daughety & Jennifer F. Reinganum, 2010. "Public Goods, Social Pressure, and the Choice between Privacy and Publicity," American Economic Journal: Microeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 2(2), pages 191-221, May.
    2. Posner, Richard A, 1981. "The Economics of Privacy," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 71(2), pages 405-409, May.
      • Posner, Richard A., 1980. "The Economics of Privacy," Working Papers 16, The University of Chicago Booth School of Business, George J. Stigler Center for the Study of the Economy and the State.
    3. Francis Bloch & Gabrielle Demange, 2018. "Taxation and privacy protection on Internet platforms," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 20(1), pages 52-66, February.
    4. Rodrigo Montes & Wilfried Sand-Zantman & Tommaso Valletti, 2015. "The Value of Personal Information in Markets with Endogenous Privacy," CEIS Research Paper 352, Tor Vergata University, CEIS, revised 05 Aug 2015.
    5. Marc Bourreau & Bernard Caillaud & Romain De Nijs, 2018. "Taxation of a digital monopoly platform," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 20(1), pages 40-51, February.
    6. Kind, Hans Jarle & Koethenbuerger, Marko & Schjelderup, Guttorm, 2008. "Efficiency enhancing taxation in two-sided markets," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 92(5-6), pages 1531-1539, June.
    7. Thisse, Jacques-Francois & Vives, Xavier, 1988. "On the Strategic Choice of Spatial Price Policy," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 78(1), pages 122-137, March.
    8. Dirk Bergemann & Alessandro Bonatti, 2015. "Selling Cookies," American Economic Journal: Microeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 7(3), pages 259-294, August.
    9. Alessandro Acquisti & Curtis Taylor & Liad Wagman, 2016. "The Economics of Privacy," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 54(2), pages 442-492, June.
    10. Justin P. Johnson, 2013. "Targeted advertising and advertising avoidance," RAND Journal of Economics, RAND Corporation, vol. 44(1), pages 128-144, March.
    11. Khim-Yong Goh & Kai-Lung Hui & Ivan P. L. Png, 2015. "Privacy and Marketing Externalities: Evidence from Do Not Call," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 61(12), pages 2982-3000, December.
    12. Stigler, George J., 1980. "An Introduction to Privacy in Economics and Politics," Working Papers 10, The University of Chicago Booth School of Business, George J. Stigler Center for the Study of the Economy and the State.
    13. Stefano DellaVigna & Ulrike Malmendier, 2004. "Contract Design and Self-Control: Theory and Evidence," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 119(2), pages 353-402.
    14. Posner, Richard A., 1978. "The Right to Privacy," Working Papers 2, The University of Chicago Booth School of Business, George J. Stigler Center for the Study of the Economy and the State.
    15. Imke Reimers & Benjamin R. Shiller, 2018. "Proprietary Data, Competition, and Consumer Effort: An Application to Telematics in Auto Insurance," Working Papers 119, Brandeis University, Department of Economics and International Business School.
    16. Nicky J. Welton & Howard H. Z. Thom, 2015. "Value of Information," Medical Decision Making, , vol. 35(5), pages 564-566, July.
    17. Yehning Chen, 1999. "Banking Panics: The Role of the First-Come, First-Served Rule and Information Externalities," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 107(5), pages 946-968, October.
    18. Jentzsch, Nicola, 2016. "State-of-the-Art of the Economics of Cyber-Security and Privacy," EconStor Research Reports 126223, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    19. N. Gregory Mankiw & Michael D. Whinston, 1986. "Free Entry and Social Inefficiency," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 17(1), pages 48-58, Spring.
    20. Ramon Casadesus-Masanell & Andres Hervas-Drane, 2015. "Competing with Privacy," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 61(1), pages 229-246, January.
    21. Hendricks, Kenneth & Porter, Robert H, 1996. "The Timing and Incidence of Exploratory Drilling on Offshore Wildcat Tracts," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 86(3), pages 388-407, June.
    22. James Campbell & Avi Goldfarb & Catherine Tucker, 2015. "Privacy Regulation and Market Structure," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(1), pages 47-73, March.
    23. Ben Lockwood, 1991. "Information Externalities in the Labour Market and the Duration of Unemployment," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 58(4), pages 733-753.
    24. Rodrigo Montes & Wilfried Sand-Zantman & Tommaso Valletti, 2015. "The Value of Personal Information in Markets with Endogenous Privacy," CEIS Research Paper 352, Tor Vergata University, CEIS, revised 05 Aug 2015.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Morlok, Tina & Matt, Christian & Hess, Thomas, 2017. "Privatheitsforschung in den Wirtschaftswissenschaften: Entwicklung, Stand und Perspektiven," Working Papers 1/2017, University of Munich, Munich School of Management, Institute for Information Systems and New Media.
    2. Anna D’Annunzio & Antonio Russo, 2020. "Ad Networks and Consumer Tracking," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 66(11), pages 5040-5058, November.
    3. Dengler, Sebastian & Prüfer, Jens, 2021. "Consumers' privacy choices in the era of big data," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 130(C), pages 499-520.
    4. Chen, Yongmin & Hua, Xinyu & Maskus, Keith E., 2021. "International protection of consumer data," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 132(C).
    5. Florian Hoffmann & Roman Inderst & Marco Ottaviani, 2020. "Persuasion Through Selective Disclosure: Implications for Marketing, Campaigning, and Privacy Regulation," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 66(11), pages 4958-4979, November.
    6. Belleflamme, Paul & Vergote, Wouter, 2016. "Monopoly price discrimination and privacy: The hidden cost of hiding," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 149(C), pages 141-144.
    7. Conti, Chiara & Reverberi, Pierfrancesco, 2021. "Price discrimination and product quality under opt-in privacy regulation," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 55(C).
    8. Rodrigo Montes & Wilfried Sand-Zantman & Tommaso Valletti, 2019. "The Value of Personal Information in Online Markets with Endogenous Privacy," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 65(3), pages 1342-1362, March.
    9. Flavio Pino, 2022. "The microeconomics of data – a survey," Economia e Politica Industriale: Journal of Industrial and Business Economics, Springer;Associazione Amici di Economia e Politica Industriale, vol. 49(3), pages 635-665, September.
    10. Blind, Knut & Niebel, Crispin Miles & Rammer, Christian, 2022. "The impact of the EU General Data Protection Regulation on innovation in firms," ZEW Discussion Papers 22-047, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    11. Marta Rocha & Thomas Greve, 2021. "Contracting in a Market with Differential Information," Journal of Industry, Competition and Trade, Springer, vol. 21(2), pages 193-210, June.
    12. Walther, Ansgar & Uettwiller, Antoine, 2019. "The Market for Data Privacy," CEPR Discussion Papers 13588, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    13. Michael Kummer & Patrick Schulte, 2019. "When Private Information Settles the Bill: Money and Privacy in Google’s Market for Smartphone Applications," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 65(8), pages 3470-3494, August.
    14. Paul Belleflamme & Wing Man Wynne Lam & Wouter Vergote, 2017. "Price Discrimination and Dispersion under Asymmetric Profiling of Consumers," AMSE Working Papers 1713, Aix-Marseille School of Economics, France.
    15. Daron Acemoglu & Ali Makhdoumi & Azarakhsh Malekian & Asu Ozdaglar, 2022. "Too Much Data: Prices and Inefficiencies in Data Markets," American Economic Journal: Microeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 14(4), pages 218-256, November.
    16. Catherine Tucker, 2023. "The Economics of Privacy: An Agenda," NBER Chapters, in: The Economics of Privacy, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    17. Anderson, Simon & Baik, Alicia & Larson, Nathan, 2019. "Price Discrimination in the Information Age: Prices, Poaching, and Privacy with Personalized Targeted Discounts," CEPR Discussion Papers 13793, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    18. Abrardi, Laura & Cambini, Carlo, 2022. "Carpe Data: Protecting online privacy with naive users," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 60(C).
    19. Avi Goldfarb, 2014. "What is Different About Online Advertising?," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 44(2), pages 115-129, March.
    20. Helia Marreiros & Mirco Tonin & Michael Vlassopoulos & M.C. Schraefel, 2016. "“Now that you mention it”: A Survey Experiment on Information, Salience and Online Privacy," BEMPS - Bozen Economics & Management Paper Series BEMPS34, Faculty of Economics and Management at the Free University of Bozen.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:pubeco:v:173:y:2019:i:c:p:113-124. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/inca/505578 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.