Economics of Information Technology

Hal Varian, and Andrea Arcangeli

1/01/2005
(Original Publish Date: 3/23/2003)

This is an overview of economic phenomena that are critical for high-technology industries. Topics covered include personalization of products and prices, versioning, bundling, switching costs, lock-in, economies of scale, network effects, standards, and systems effects.Most of these phenomena are present in conventional industries, but they are particular important for technology-intensive industries. I provide a survey and review of recent literature and examine the implications of these phenomena for corporate strategy and public policy. See section 8 for information on standards