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The Empirical Economics of Online Attention

Author

Listed:
  • Andre Boik
  • Shane Greenstein
  • Jeffrey Prince

Abstract

This paper models and characterizes how households allocate their scarce attention in arguably the largest market for attention: the Internet. It identifies vast and expected changes in those households that allocate their attention (away from chat and news towards video and social media), and yet simultaneously identifies remarkable stability in how much attention is allocated and how it is allocated. Specifically, it identifies (i) persistence in the elasticity of attention according to income and (ii) complete stability in the dispersion of attention across sites and in the intensity of attention within sites. [Working Paper 22427]

Suggested Citation

  • Andre Boik & Shane Greenstein & Jeffrey Prince, 2016. "The Empirical Economics of Online Attention," Working Papers id:11100, eSocialSciences.
    • Handle: RePEc:ess:wpaper:id:11100
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Lanham, Richard A., 2006. "The Economics of Attention," University of Chicago Press Economics Books, University of Chicago Press, edition 1, number 9780226468822, April.
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    6. Goldfarb, Avi & Prince, Jeff, 2008. "Internet adoption and usage patterns are different: Implications for the digital divide," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 20(1), pages 2-15, March.
    7. Aviv Nevo & John L. Turner & Jonathan W. Williams, 2016. "Usage‐Based Pricing and Demand for Residential Broadband," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 84, pages 411-443, March.
    8. Scott Wallsten, 2013. "What Are We Not Doing When We're Online," NBER Working Papers 19549, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    9. Hitt, Lorin & Tambe, Prasanna, 2007. "Broadband adoption and content consumption," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 19(3-4), pages 362-378, October.
    10. Rosston Gregory L. & Savage Scott J & Waldman Donald M, 2010. "Household Demand for Broadband Internet in 2010," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 10(1), pages 1-45, September.
    11. Susan Athey & Emilio Calvano & Joshua Gans, 2013. "The Impact of the Internet on Advertising Markets for News Media," NBER Working Papers 19419, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    12. Savage, Scott James & Waldman, Donald M., 2009. "Ability, location and household demand for Internet bandwidth," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 27(2), pages 166-174, March.
    13. Peitz, Martin & Waldfogel, Joel, 2012. "The Oxford Handbook of the Digital Economy," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780195397840.
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Han Yuan, 2020. "Competing for Time: A Study of Mobile Applications," 2020 Papers pyu309, Job Market Papers.
    2. Martin Peitz, 2024. "Digital Attention Intermediaries," CRC TR 224 Discussion Paper Series crctr224_2024_520, University of Bonn and University of Mannheim, Germany.
    3. Jeon, Doh-Shin, 2018. "Economics of News Aggregators," TSE Working Papers 18-912, Toulouse School of Economics (TSE).
    4. Cali Curley & Galib Rustamov & Nicky Harrison & Madeline Venable, 2020. "Susceptibility to Inattention: Unpacking Who is Susceptible to Inattention in Energy‐Based Electronic Billing," Review of Policy Research, Policy Studies Organization, vol. 37(6), pages 744-764, November.
    5. Luis Aguiar Wicht, 2019. "Going Mobile: The Effects of Smartphone Usage on Internet Consumption," JRC Working Papers on Digital Economy 2019-07, Joint Research Centre.
    6. Oliver Budzinski & Sophia Gaenssle & Nadine Lindstädt-Dreusicke, 2021. "The battle of YouTube, TV and Netflix: an empirical analysis of competition in audiovisual media markets," SN Business & Economics, Springer, vol. 1(9), pages 1-26, September.
    7. Du, Kai & Song, Jinyuan, 2022. "The impact of geotargeting on household information acquisition: Evidence from a Google News redesign," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 51(10).
    8. Peitz, Martin, 2020. "Economic policy for digital attention intermediaries," ZEW Discussion Papers 20-035, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    9. Hildebrandt, Christian & Arnold, René, 2018. "Marktbeobachtung in der digitalen Wirtschaft – Ein Modell zur Analyse von Online-Plattformen," WIK Discussion Papers 427, WIK Wissenschaftliches Institut für Infrastruktur und Kommunikationsdienste GmbH.
    10. Charles Hodgson & Gregory Lewis, 2020. "You Can Lead a Horse to Water: Spatial Learning and Path Dependence in Consumer Search," Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers 2246, Cowles Foundation for Research in Economics, Yale University.
    11. Tim Meyer & Anna Kerkhof & Carmelo Cennamo & Tobias Kretschmer, 2022. "Competing for Attention on Information Platforms: The Case of News," CESifo Working Paper Series 9832, CESifo.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    consumer expenditure; Internet; empirical economics; online attention;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D12 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Consumer Economics: Empirical Analysis
    • L81 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Services - - - Retail and Wholesale Trade; e-Commerce
    • L86 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Services - - - Information and Internet Services; Computer Software

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