The Digital Economy Economics 222 Spring 2002
Professor Jean Shackelford Coleman Hall 165 jshackel@bucknell.edu
"a wealth of information creates a poverty of attention." ....Herbert Simon
INSTRUCTOR: Professor Jean Shackelford OFFICE HOURS: W 9-12 , Others by appointment (Coleman 165) ADDRESSES: e-mail: jshackel@bucknell.edu, phone: X- 73441
Requried Text: Linda Low. Economics of Information Technology and the Media. World Scientific, Singapore University Press 2000.
Course Objectives:
This course will develop and utilize economic principles to better understand and explain the expansion and integration of information and communications technologies into the US and global economies. It will provide an introduction to concepts and theories useful in analyzing economic aspects of the digital and information technology revolutions. While the course will review the interdisciplinary developments driving many of these changes, it will focus primarily on the economic aspects.
COURSE OUTLINE & READING ASSIGNMENTS:
ASSIGNMENTS: January | February | March | April Article Reviews and Other Writing Assignments (Guidelines)
Introduction-- January 17 - Introduction to the course--goals, objectives, assignments, grading, January 22 - 29th - Part 1 The Economics of Information Overview of IT and the Media - linking the information economy and the digital economy -Chapter 1 ( to pp.22)
January 31 - Basic Economic Concepts and Principles- Chapter 2
February 5 - Market Structure and Competition - exploring the economic impact of the digital economy and the digital revolution Chapter 3
February 7 - Conclude Chapter 3 of Low Hal Varian's "Economics of Information Technology" or "High Technology Industries and Market Structure."with Groups preparing the following for class on Thursday, February 7th.
February 12 - We will begin a discussion of the Free Software or Open Source Movement with the GNU Project
February 14 - Continue the examination of the Open Software movement by discussing Linux --reading the Cathedral and the Bazaar. Also read one article from the "popular or wired press" about Linux. Perhaps one of the articles at Wired on 'The Linux Effect'.
February 19- Begining to explore the Microsoft Monopoly case. Readings: "Comment on the Revised Proposed Final Judgement." Robert E. Litan, Roger G. Noll and William D. Nordhaus, January, 2002. (This is a 75 page report available for downloading by clicking in the box at the top of the page that begins NEW at this Bookings Institution Page
February 21 - Continue exploring the case against/proposed settlements of the Microsoft Monopoly Case (review one of the articles in this Washington Post archive) and the AOL/TimeWarner and Microsoft Oligopoly - "In AOL's Suit Against Microsoft, the Key Word is Access." Revies the Microsoft/DOJ time line from the Washington Post
Optional: "An Economists Guide to U.S. v. Microsoft" by Richard J. Gilbert and Michael L. Katz. Journal of Economic Perspectives, Volume 15, No 2, Spring 2001, pp. 25-44 (also on e-reserves)
February 26 - Conclude market structures discussion. Please read "Book World: Chipping Away" by Clive Thompson. We will begin Part II Players and Markets in IT and the Media - Institutions in the digital economy - IT and Media Markets (Computer Industry, Broadcast Industry, TV, Radio, Recording and Motion Pictures and Newspapers - Read Low Chatper 4, and A New Life for Networks in the 2/21/02 New York Times.
February 28 - IT Labour and Employment read Low Chapter 6 and Wiring the Labor Market.on ereserves
Optional: Lawrence F. Katz - "Technological Change, Computerization, and Wage Structure." (PDF to download)
March 5 - INTERVIEW PROJECT on labor and the digital economy - project design for the Knowledge Economy and the impact on work and workers. (Possible interview questions.)
Examination, March 7
March 8-18 - Spring Break
March 19 - Review Exams, discuss work and productivity issues. Go over interview assignment.
March 21 - Productivity in the digital age (reading assignment handed out in class).
March 26 - Interview Project draft due. B2B and P2P, and B2C. Read Low, Chapter 7 (pages 163-181) and 8 pages (181-192) - Technology and the Market, Convergence and education - the MIT Opencourseware project
March 28 - The Digital Economy and the Music Industry - Napster and MP3 etc. a. An Update on the Napster case b. A new bill aimed at protecting copyright - Anti copy bill slams coders--from Wired c. Technological and Social Drivers of Change in the Online Music Industry or Music in the Age of Free Distribution
April 2 - Napster, Property Rights, Copyright and the Digital Economy - continued
April 4 - The Digital Economy and Privacy Regulation, Encryption and Terrorism a. "Cybercrime Dilemma: Is it Possible to guarantee both security and privacy?" by Michael O'Neil b. "Europe to US: No privacy, no trade," by Simon Daves c. "CDT's guide ot online privacy" d. Low, pages 228-237
April 9 - Take a look at the articles linked in a PC Magazine series on Protecting your Privacy.
Here are some links where you can explore some privacy "tools." (Thanks to PC Mag, and S.Utke)
April 11 - Part III Public Policy and the Global Economy. How does the digital economy affect economic policy-National Information Policy - IT and the Media in the Global Economy - a. Low - Chapter 9 and 10 b. "Globalization of Information: Intellectual Property Law Implications," by Kim Nayyer
April 16 - Macroeconomic Policy and the Digital Economy - Silicon Valley's Spy Game from the New York times and sections of Martin Baily's Macroeconomics Implications of the New Economy.
April 18 - Issues in Media and Information Economics - Low, Chapter 11, and specific elements of the Digital Divide -Donna L. Hoffman and Thomas P. Novak - "The Growing Digital Divide: Implications for Open Research Agenda." (PDF to download)
April 23 - Cultures - the digital economy and development - Heather Hudson - "Extending Access to the Digital Economy to Developing Regions." (PDF to download) and The Next Economy - J. Bradford De Long and A. Michael Froomkin
April 25 and 30 Final Projects Presentations May 7, 8:00 AM - Final Examination
Class Discussion/Preparation/Participation: (20%) Includes daily preparation of assigned materials and reflection about material in reading assignments and participation in class discussions. (Make sure that you are have scanned theNew York Times for relevant articles and read all assigned articles.) You must be present in class to participate (see below for attendance expectations.) Written Assignments: (50 percent)
Examinations: (30%) There will be two examinations during the course of the semester. If you would like to discuss your written work or class participation, please feel free to stop in my office, (Coleman 165) to discuss your progress.
Attendance. (standards for your class participation grade) Please arrange your appointments for job interviews or participation in sports events at other times than class meetings. Since participation is a large part of evaluation, class absences will be reflected in your grade for the course. In addition to the above, you may use the following as an attendance guide which will be part of my assessing "Class Discussion": 4.0 Perfect attendance. Always well prepared and contributes actively in most classes. 3.0 90% attendance. Almost always well prepared and usually contributes actively. 2.0 80% attendance. Usually prepared and contributes actively to about half of the classes. 1.0 At least 50% attendance. Only prepared about half of the time. Contributes actively about 20 % of the time. 0.0 Attends occasionally. Poor preparation.
Academic Responsibility. Students in this course, as in all others, will be held to the highest standards of academic responsibility. Bucknell has a clearly published policy on academic responsibility, which can be found in the section on regulations in your Student Handbook, in the Catalog, and on the web:
"Bucknell students are responsible for the preparation and presentation of work representing their own efforts. Acceptance of this responsibility is essential to the educational process and must be considered as an expression of mutual trust, the foundation upon which creative scholarship rests. Students are directed to use great care when preparing all written work and to acknowledge fully the source of all ideas and language other than their own." (Bucknell Catalog, 2001-02, p. 284).
Possible readings or articles to review.
CTNet - The end of the begining of the digital economy
John Haltwinger and Ron Jarmin - "Measuring the Digital Economy" (PDF to download)
Brent Moulton - "GDP and the Digital Economy: Keeping up with the Changes" (PDF to download)
Paul David - "Understanding Digital Technology"s Evolution and the Path of Measured Productivity Growth Past Present and Future in the Mirror of the Past." (PDF to download)
Shand Greenstein - "The Evolving Structure of Commercial Internet Markets." (PDF to download)
Hal Varian - "Market Structure in the Network Age." (PDF to download)
Sulin Ba, Andrew Whinston, and Han Zhang - "Small Companies in the Digital Economy." (PDF to download)
Josh Lerner - "Small Businesses, Innovation, and Public Policy of the Information Technology Industry." (PDF to download):
Special Report: Business Week, October 4, 1999 - The Internet Age
Special Report: New York Times on E-Commerce
Conference on The Digital Economy --Department of Commerce