The document discusses information economics and defines some key concepts: 1. Information economics treats information explicitly as a resource and studies how information affects economic decisions and the economy. 2. In the information era, the production, use, and communication of information has become centrally important, similar to how mass production of goods was important in the industrial era. 3. The value of information depends on its context and use, and there is a difference between personal and organizational uses of information. The cost of producing information is independent of how much it is used.

1. INFORMATION ECONOMICS Presented by Shri Ram Pandey NCSI, IISc Bangalore- 560012

2. What is Economics? Activities undertaken to provide for the satisfaction of desires based on production and consumption. Traditionally, economic analysis is focused on resource scarcity, demand, supply, and exchange.

3. What is Economics? Economics is the study of how people choose to use resources. Resources include the : 1.Time and talent people have available, 2.The land, buildings, equipment, and other tools on hand, and 3.The knowledge of how to combine them to create useful products and services.

4. Do you agree? “ However information is perceived and treated in the past, it is being treated more and more as a commodity that can be owned, controlled, and traded in the market.”

5. Information economics “ Information economics treats information explicitly as a resource” Information economics is a branch of microeconomic theory that studies how information affects an economy and economic decisions.

6. New Opportunity From an economic perspective, the economy is becoming more information intensive. The production, use and communication of information assumes the central importance in the information era that mass production of ordinary goods and services assumed in the industrial era.

7. The value of information is not quantifiable, its value depends on “context and use” There is a great deal of difference between personal and group or organizational use of information. The division of information gathering may well be the most fundamental form of the division of labour. The cost of producing information is independent of the scale on which it is used . Economics characteristics of information

8. Learning takes time so that there is a limit to the rate at which decision makers can absorb information. There are usually significant information differentials in terms of possession of information, access to information and capacity to use information. The greater part of the cost of information is often the cost incurred by the recipient

9. The output of the information sector is used to a significant extent by industry as opposed to consumers. The complexity of information activities makes information as a resource difficult to contain within the traditional production function mode of analysis.

10. Information economics & intellectual property law What do we mean by information in this case? -News, new ideas and inventions, music, etc Information is produced at high cost , but, as soon as it leaves the producer, it can be copied and transmitted at low cost. Difficult for the producer to sell information at a price much higher than the transmission cost – the problem of Non appropriability. Examples : Software and music are unlawfully copied and sold, inventions are stolen and exploited, news is resold etc. Compare to ”ordinary” goods as for example cars...

11. Thank you!