Few would doubt the potential of information technology to connect individuals, firms and organisations. Whether this will actually lead to the integration of markets and societies is a different issue. The articles collected in this book shed light on crucial considerations for the success of...

Motivation and Nontechnical Overview -- Selected Theoretical Concepts: The Theory of Games -- Network Theory in Economics. Applications to Peering in Telecommunications: Telecommunications and the Internet -- A Model of Peering Among VoIP Firms -- Network Formation in Peering -- Concluding...

Over the last decades, technological progress has brought about a multitude of standardization problems. For instance, compatibility standards ensure the interoperability of goods, which is of decisive importance when users face positive externalities in consumption. Consumers' expectations are...

This Chapter provides a survey of the economics literature on multi-sided platforms with particular focus on competition policy issues, including market definition, mergers, monopolization, and coordinated behavior. It provides a survey of the general industrial organization theory of...

We estimate the demand for a videocalling technology in the presence of both network effects and heterogeneity. Using a unique dataset from a large multinational firm, we pose and estimate a fully dynamic model of technology adoption. We propose a novel identification strategy based on...

This paper investigates how the destabilizing of a social network may increase the scope of network externalities, using data on sales of a video-calling system made to an investment bank's employees and subsequent usage by these customers. The terrorist attacks of 2001 led potential customers...

The paper uses disaggregated data on asset holdings and liabilities to estimate a general equilibrium model where each institution determines the diversification and size of the asset and liability sides of its balance-sheet. The model endogenously generates two types of financial networks: (i)...

The move from traditional to open-access journals—which charge no subscription fees, only submission fees—is gaining support in academia. We analyze a two-sided-market model in which journals cannot commit to subscription fees when authors (who prefer low subscription fees because this...

Using staggered entry of two dockless bikesharing firms, we find the entrant expands the market for the incumbent. The entry helps the incumbent to serve a greater number of trips, make more bike investment, achieve higher revenue per trip, improve bike utilization rate, and form a wider and...