The Economics of Digitization 

Course Outline: Digitization has dramatically reduced the costs of data storage and transmission. As a result, digitization has substantially decreased transaction costs, which has lead to fundamental changes in the organization of economic activity. The course explores the impact of different digital technologies on the behavior of markets and market outcomes. It combines tools and insights from a number of fields, including industrial organization, labor economics, the economics of innovation, and applied econometrics. Topics covered include big data, copyright and online piracy, apps markets, online retailers, social media, online gaming, and virtual currencies. 

• Class 1: Introduction
• Class 2: Online markets
• Class 3: Big data
• Class 4: Copyright and digitization
• Class 5: Online music and films
• Class 6: Online piracy
• Class 7: Internet access and use
• Class 8: The online apps market
• Class 9: Social media and networks
• Class 10: Online marketing
• Class 11: Online recommendation systems
• Class 12: Online matching markets
• Class 13: Cryptocurrencies
• Class 14: Online gaming
• Class 15: Crowdfunding