The Economics of Privacy: A Primer Especially for Policymakers

This paper presents a survey of a field called the economics of privacy. Reflecting growing concerns worldwide about the handling of personal data on the Internet, the economics of privacy is developing rapidly, coinciding with recent efforts by privacy regulators to tighten regulations. The literature argues that it is difficult for market mechanisms to resolve problems such as how to determine the socially optimal level of privacy protection and how to avoid excessive privacy loss driven by negative data externalities. These insights should be useful for policymakers facing the question of how to deal with personal data issues and to ensure that people's privacy is protected.