Graduate Student Tutorial- February 24-26, 2016

National Bureau Of Economic Research Inc, Cambridge MA

Investigators

Abstract

The growth of digital data, along with new social and business practices, raises new research questions about data security and privacy, knowledge production and intellectual property. Increasing digitization has altered the fundamental cost of collecting and retaining and distributing personal information. The research community has begun to examine the impact of rules, policies and institutions that govern the economic incentives to create, store, and use digital information. New frameworks are required to provide policy relevant analysis. The NBER Digitization Project, launched in 2010, is building the foundations for an economics oriented research community that examines the causes and consequences of digitization. This project supports a graduate student conference to promote the development and diffusion of economic research analyzing the effects of the rise of digital technology on the behavior of firms and households. The project fosters growth of a research community to examine the potential impact of regulation and other government initiatives on the incentives to produce and distribute digital content.