IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/jindec/v71y2023i1p143-175.html

Regulating Data Privacy and Cybersecurity

Author

Listed:
  • Wing Man Wynne Lam
  • Jacob Seifert

Abstract

This paper studies firms' data privacy and cybersecurity choices. We emphasise the strategic interdependence between these decisions and demonstrate that security in both the market equilibrium and the social optimum tends to be higher when data is shared. We also identify important market failures in the sense that firms tend to under‐invest in security and over‐share data. Our welfare analysis of a minimum security standard, disclosure and consumer education policies, liability rules and consumer mitigation strategies highlights the need for a co‐ordinated approach to regulation.

Suggested Citation

  • Wing Man Wynne Lam & Jacob Seifert, 2023. "Regulating Data Privacy and Cybersecurity," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 71(1), pages 143-175, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:jindec:v:71:y:2023:i:1:p:143-175
    DOI: 10.1111/joie.12316
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/joie.12316
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/joie.12316?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
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jullien, Bruno & Lefouili, Yassine & Riordan, Michael, 2018. "Privacy Protection, Security, and Consumer Retention," TSE Working Papers 18-947, Toulouse School of Economics (TSE), revised Jun 2020.
    2. Curtis R. Taylor, 2004. "Consumer Privacy and the Market for Customer Information," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 35(4), pages 631-650, Winter.
    3. Lamoreaux, N., 2019. "The Problem of Bigness: From Standard Oil to Google," Cambridge Working Papers in Economics 1963, Faculty of Economics, University of Cambridge.
    4. Dirk Bergemann & Alessandro Bonatti, 2019. "Markets for Information: An Introduction," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 11(1), pages 85-107, August.
    5. Naomi R. Lamoreaux, 2019. "The Problem of Bigness: From Standard Oil to Google," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 33(3), pages 94-117, Summer.
    6. Jay Pil Choi & Chaim Fershtman & Neil Gandal, 2010. "Network Security: Vulnerabilities And Disclosure Policy," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 58(4), pages 868-894, December.
    7. Shota Ichihashi, 2020. "Online Privacy and Information Disclosure by Consumers," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 110(2), pages 569-595, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Stefano Comino & Alessandro Fedele & Fabio Manenti, 2025. "Cyber(in)security and Interoperability in Digital Services," BEMPS - Bozen Economics & Management Paper Series BEMPS116, Faculty of Economics and Management at the Free University of Bozen.

    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. Jiadong Gu, 2024. "Data Trade and Consumer Privacy," Papers 2406.12457, arXiv.org, revised Jan 2026.
    2. Dirk Bergemann & Alessandro Bonatti & Tan Gan, 2022. "The economics of social data," RAND Journal of Economics, RAND Corporation, vol. 53(2), pages 263-296, June.
    3. Alessandro Bonatti, 2023. "The Platform Dimension of Digital Privacy," NBER Chapters, in: The Economics of Privacy, pages 73-96, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. 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.
    5. Bergemann, Dirk & Ottaviani, Marco, 2021. "Information Markets and Nonmarkets," CEPR Discussion Papers 16459, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    6. S Nageeb Ali & Greg Lewis & Shoshana Vasserman, 2023. "Voluntary Disclosure and Personalized Pricing," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 90(2), pages 538-571.
    7. Yunfei (Jesse) Yao, 2025. "Reputation for Privacy," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 44(5), pages 1145-1162, September.
    8. Abrardi, Laura & Cambini, Carlo, 2022. "Carpe Data: Protecting online privacy with naive users," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 60(C).
    9. Monte, Daniel & Pinheiro, Roberto, 2025. "Costly information intermediation: Quality vs. Spillovers," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 239(C).
    10. Loertscher, Simon & Marx, Leslie M., 2020. "Digital monopolies: Privacy protection or price regulation?," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    11. Itay P. Fainmesser & Andrea Galeotti & Ruslan Momot, 2023. "Digital Privacy," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 69(6), pages 3157-3173, June.
    12. 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.
    13. Felix Bühlmann & Caroline Ahler Christesen & Bruno Cousin & François Denord & Christoph Houman Ellersgaard & Paul Lagneau‐ymonet & Anton Grau Larsen & Mike Savage & Sylvain Thine & Kevin Young & Pedro, 2025. "Varieties of Economic Elites? Preliminary Results From the World Elite Database (WED)," Post-Print hal-05027410, HAL.
    14. Daniel Krähmer & Roland Strausz, 2023. "Optimal Nonlinear Pricing with Data-Sensitive Consumers," American Economic Journal: Microeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 15(2), pages 80-108, May.
    15. Yang, Jun & Yang, Dingjian & Cheng, Jixin, 2024. "The non-rivalry of data, directed technical change and the environment: A theoretical study incorporating data as a production factor," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 417-448.
    16. Didier Laussel & Ngo Van Long & Joana Resende, 2023. "Profit Effects of Consumers’ Identity Management: A Dynamic Model," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 69(6), pages 3602-3615, June.
    17. Babina, Tania & Barkai, Simcha & Jeffers, Jessica & Karger, Ezra & Volkova, Ekaterina, 2023. "Antitrust Enforcement Increases Economic Activity," HEC Research Papers Series 1488, HEC Paris.
    18. Yiquan Gu & Leonardo Madio & Carlo Reggiani, 2019. "Exclusive Data, Price Manipulation and Market Leadership," CESifo Working Paper Series 7853, CESifo.
    19. Gordon, Joel A. & Balta-Ozkan, Nazmiye & Nabavi, Seyed Ali, 2023. "Price promises, trust deficits and energy justice: Public perceptions of hydrogen homes," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 188(C).
    20. Li, Jianpei & Zhang, Wanzhu, 2025. "The Value of Anonymous Option," MPRA Paper 124009, University Library of Munich, Germany.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:bla:jindec:v:71:y:2023:i:1:p:143-175. 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: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0022-1821 .

    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.