Abstract

Digital technology is the representation of information in bits. This technology has reduced the cost of storage, computation, and transmission of data. Research on digital economics examines whether and how digital technology changes economic activity. In this review, we emphasize the reduction in five distinct economic costs associated with digital economic activity: search costs, replication costs, transportation costs, tracking costs, and verification costs. (JEL D24, D83, L86, O33, R41)

Keywords

Cost reductionReplication (statistics)Economic costRepresentation (politics)ComputationComputer scienceReduction (mathematics)EconomicsIndustrial organizationEnvironmental economicsMicroeconomicsMathematics

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Publication Info

Year
2019
Type
article
Volume
57
Issue
1
Pages
3-43
Citations
1868
Access
Closed

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Cite This

Avi Goldfarb, Catherine E. Tucker (2019). Digital Economics. Journal of Economic Literature , 57 (1) , 3-43. https://doi.org/10.1257/jel.20171452

Identifiers

DOI
10.1257/jel.20171452

Data Quality

Data completeness: 81%