Handbook on the Economics of the Internet

The Internet is connecting an increasing number of individuals, organizations, and devices into global networks of information flows. It is accelerating the dynamics of innovation in the digital economy, affecting the nature and intensity of competition, and enabling private companies, governments, and the non-profit sector to develop new business models. In this new ecosystem many of the theoretical assumptions and historical observations upon which economics rests are altered and need critical reassessment.

This Handbook brings together twenty-seven original chapters that discuss theoretical and applied frameworks for the study of the economics of the Internet, encompassing:

• its unique economics as a global information and communications infrastructure
• the effects of the Internet on economic transactions, including social production, advertising, innovation, and intellectual property rights
• the economics and management of Internet-based industries, such as search, news, entertainment, culture, and virtual worlds
• the effects of the Internet on the economy at large

Interdisciplinary in its approach, the Handbook synthesizes the state of knowledge and offers new perspectives for researchers, practitioners, and students.