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The Economics of Social Data: An Introduction

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Abstract

Large internet platforms collect data from individual users in almost every interaction on the internet. Whenever an individual browses a news website, searches for a medical term or for a travel recommendation, or simply checks the weather forecast on an app, that individual generates data. A central feature of the data collected from the individuals is its social aspect. Namely, the data captured from an individual user is not only informative about this specific individual, but also about users in some metric similar to the individual. Thus, the individual data is really social data. The social nature of the data generates an informational externality that we investigate in this note.

Suggested Citation

  • Dirk Bergemann & Alessandro Bonatti, 2019. "The Economics of Social Data: An Introduction," Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers 2171, Cowles Foundation for Research in Economics, Yale University.
    • Handle: RePEc:cwl:cwldpp:2171
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. 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.
    2. Dirk Bergemann & Alessandro Bonatti & Alex Smolin, 2018. "The Design and Price of Information," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 108(1), pages 1-48, January.
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    Cited by:

    1. Jorge Padilla, 2020. "Big Tech “banks”, financial stability and regulation," Revista de Estabilidad Financiera, Banco de España, issue Spring.
    2. Jorge Padilla, 2020. "Big Tech “banks”, financial stability and regulation," Revista de Estabilidad Financiera, Banco de España, issue MAY.
    3. José Ramón Martínez Resano, 2021. "Regulating for competition with BigTechs: banking-as-a-service and “beyond banking”," Financial Stability Review, Banco de España, issue Autumn.
    4. David Bounie & Antoine Dubus & Patrick Waelbroeck, 2021. "Competition and Mergers with Strategic Data Intermediaries," CESifo Working Paper Series 9339, CESifo.
    5. José Ramón Martínez Resano, 2021. "Regulating for competition with BigTechs: banking-as-a-service and “beyond banking”," Financial Stability Review, Banco de España, issue NOV.
    6. Jorge Padilla, 2020. "Big Tech “banks”, financial stability and regulation," Financial Stability Review, Banco de España, issue Spring.
    7. Jorge Padilla, 2020. "Big Tech “banks”, financial stability and regulation," Financial Stability Review, Banco de España, issue MAY.
    8. José Ramón Martínez Resano, 2021. "Regulating for competition with BigTechs: banking-as-a-service and “beyond banking”," Revista de Estabilidad Financiera, Banco de España, issue NOV.
    9. Shuran Zheng & Yiling Chen, 2020. "Optimal Advertising for Information Products," Papers 2002.10045, arXiv.org, revised Sep 2021.
    10. Peitz, Martin, 2020. "Economic policy for digital attention intermediaries," ZEW Discussion Papers 20-035, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    11. David Bounie & Antoine Dubus & Patrick Waelbroeck, 2023. "Competition Between Strategic Data Intermediaries with Implications for Merger Policy," Working Papers hal-03336520, HAL.
    12. Ichihashi, Shota, 2021. "The economics of data externalities," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 196(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Individual Data; Social Data; Informational Externality; Internet Platforms; Data Collection; Data Markup;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D80 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - General
    • D82 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Asymmetric and Private Information; Mechanism Design
    • D83 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Search; Learning; Information and Knowledge; Communication; Belief; Unawareness

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