IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/ecinqu/v62y2024i3p1074-1089.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Privacy regulation and firm performance: Estimating the GDPR effect globally

Author

Listed:
  • Carl Benedikt Frey
  • Giorgio Presidente

Abstract

This paper examines how privacy regulation shaped firm performance. Controlling for firm and country‐industry‐year unobserved characteristics, we compare the outcomes of firms at different levels of exposure to EU markets, before and after the enforcement of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in 2018. We find that the GDPR had the unintended consequence of harming the profitability of companies targeting European consumers through the cost channel. Technology firms experienced a 2.1% decline in profits, but not in sales. The GDPR increased extra expenses, added to firms wage bills, and accelerated patenting in GDPR‐related technology fields. The main burdens have been borne by smaller companies.

Suggested Citation

  • Carl Benedikt Frey & Giorgio Presidente, 2024. "Privacy regulation and firm performance: Estimating the GDPR effect globally," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 62(3), pages 1074-1089, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:ecinqu:v:62:y:2024:i:3:p:1074-1089
    DOI: 10.1111/ecin.13213
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/ecin.13213
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/ecin.13213?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Lu, Yi & Tao, Zhigang & Zhu, Lianming, 2017. "Identifying FDI spillovers," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 107(C), pages 75-90.
    2. Julie Brill, 2011. "The Intersection of Consumer Protection and Competition in the New World of Privacy, II," Antitrust Chronicle, Competition Policy International, vol. 12.
    3. Philippe Aghion & Richard Blundell & Rachel Griffith & Peter Howitt & Susanne Prantl, 2009. "The Effects of Entry on Incumbent Innovation and Productivity," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 91(1), pages 20-32, February.
    4. Bombardini, Matilde, 2008. "Firm heterogeneity and lobby participation," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 75(2), pages 329-348, July.
    5. Amalia R. Miller & Catherine E. Tucker, 2011. "Can Health Care Information Technology Save Babies?," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 119(2), pages 289-324.
    6. Martin Watzinger & Thomas A. Fackler & Markus Nagler & Monika Schnitzer, 2020. "How Antitrust Enforcement Can Spur Innovation: Bell Labs and the 1956 Consent Decree," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 12(4), pages 328-359, November.
    7. Şebnem Kalemli- Özcan & Bent E. Sørensen & Carolina Villegas-Sanchez & Vadym Volosovych & Sevcan Yeşiltaş, 2024. "How to Construct Nationally Representative Firm-Level Data from the Orbis Global Database: New Facts on SMEs and Aggregate Implications for Industry Concentration," American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 16(2), pages 353-374, April.
    8. Garrett A. Johnson, 2022. "Economic Research on Privacy Regulation: Lessons from the GDPR and Beyond," NBER Chapters, in: The Economics of Privacy, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    9. Ajay Agrawal & Joshua Gans & Avi Goldfarb, 2019. "The Economics of Artificial Intelligence: An Agenda," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number agra-1.
    10. Matej Bajgar & Giuseppe Berlingieri & Sara Calligaris & Chiara Criscuolo & Jonathan Timmis, 2020. "Coverage and representativeness of Orbis data," OECD Science, Technology and Industry Working Papers 2020/06, OECD Publishing.
    11. Julie Brill, 2011. "The Intersection of Consumer Protection and Competition in the New World of Privacy," CPI Journal, Competition Policy International, vol. 7.
    12. Congiu, Raffaele & Sabatino, Lorien & Sapi, Geza, 2022. "The Impact of Privacy Regulation on Web Traffic: Evidence From the GDPR," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 61(C).
    13. Jian Jia & Ginger Zhe Jin & Liad Wagman, 2021. "The Short-Run Effects of the General Data Protection Regulation on Technology Venture Investment," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 40(4), pages 661-684, July.
    14. Zhuo, Ran & Huffaker, Bradley & claffy, kc & Greenstein, Shane, 2021. "The impact of the General Data Protection Regulation on internet interconnection," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(2).
    15. Petra Moser & Alessandra Voena, 2012. "Compulsory Licensing: Evidence from the Trading with the Enemy Act," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 102(1), pages 396-427, February.
    16. Garrett Johnson, 2022. "Economic Research on Privacy Regulation: Lessons from the GDPR and Beyond," NBER Working Papers 30705, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    17. Nicholas Martin & Christian Matt & Crispin Niebel & Knut Blind, 2019. "How Data Protection Regulation Affects Startup Innovation," Information Systems Frontiers, Springer, vol. 21(6), pages 1307-1324, December.
    18. Rebecca Janßen & Reinhold Kesler & Michael E. Kummer & Joel Waldfogel, 2022. "GDPR and the Lost Generation of Innovative Apps," NBER Working Papers 30028, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    19. James Campbell & Avi Goldfarb & Catherine Tucker, 2015. "Privacy Regulation and Market Structure," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(1), pages 47-73, March.
    20. Amalia R. Miller & Catherine Tucker, 2009. "Privacy Protection and Technology Diffusion: The Case of Electronic Medical Records," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 55(7), pages 1077-1093, July.
    21. Sergio Correia & Paulo Guimarães & Tom Zylkin, 2020. "Fast Poisson estimation with high-dimensional fixed effects," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 20(1), pages 95-115, March.
    22. Christian Peukert & Stefan Bechtold & Michail Batikas & Tobias Kretschmer, 2022. "Regulatory Spillovers and Data Governance: Evidence from the GDPR," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 41(4), pages 746-768, July.
    23. David H. Autor & John J. Donohue & Stewart J. Schwab, 2006. "The Costs of Wrongful-Discharge Laws," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 88(2), pages 211-231, May.
    24. Miguel Godinho de Matos & Idris Adjerid, 2022. "Consumer Consent and Firm Targeting After GDPR: The Case of a Large Telecom Provider," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 68(5), pages 3330-3378, May.
    25. Amalia R. Miller & Catherine Tucker, 2018. "Privacy Protection, Personalized Medicine, and Genetic Testing," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 64(10), pages 4648-4668, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Mert Demirer & Diego Jimenez-Hernandez & Dean Li & Sida Peng, 2024. "Data, Privacy Laws and Firm Production: Evidence from the GDPR," Working Paper Series WP 2024-02, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago.
    2. Garrett A. Johnson, 2022. "Economic Research on Privacy Regulation: Lessons from the GDPR and Beyond," NBER Chapters, in: The Economics of Privacy, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Yassine Lefouili & Leonardo Madio & Ying Lei Toh, 2024. "Privacy Regulation and Quality‐Enhancing Innovation," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 72(2), pages 662-684, June.
    4. Bleier, Alexander & Goldfarb, Avi & Tucker, Catherine, 2020. "Consumer privacy and the future of data-based innovation and marketing," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 37(3), pages 466-480.
    5. Kox, Henk L.M., 2022. "A micro-macro model of foreign direct investment: knowledge-based gravity forces, self-selection and third-country effects," MPRA Paper 115542, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    6. Catherine E. Tucker, 2023. "The Economics of Privacy: An Agenda," NBER Chapters, in: The Economics of Privacy, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. Masayuki Morikawa, 2023. "Compliance costs and productivity: an approach from working hours," Journal of Regulatory Economics, Springer, vol. 63(3), pages 117-137, June.
    8. Jian Jia & Ginger Zhe Jin & Liad Wagman, 2018. "The Short-Run Effects of GDPR on Technology Venture Investment," NBER Working Papers 25248, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    9. Guy Aridor & Yeon-Koo Che & Brett Hollenbeck & Maximilian Kaiser & Daniel McCarthy, 2024. "Evaluating the Impact of Privacy Regulation on E-Commerce Firms: Evidence from Apple’s App Tracking Transparency," CESifo Working Paper Series 10928, CESifo.
    10. Jian Jia & Ginger Zhe Jin & Liad Wagman, 2021. "The Short-Run Effects of the General Data Protection Regulation on Technology Venture Investment," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 40(4), pages 661-684, July.
    11. Nie, Fapeng & Li, Xiang & Zhou, Chang, 2024. "Impact of privacy regulation involving information collection on the ride-hailing market," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 126(C).
    12. Han, Chao & Tian, Xian-Liang, 2022. "Less pollution under a more centralized environmental system: Evidence from vertical environmental reforms in China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 112(C).
    13. Christian Peukert & Florian Abeillon & J'er'emie Haese & Franziska Kaiser & Alexander Staub, 2024. "Strategic Behavior and AI Training Data," Papers 2404.18445, arXiv.org.
    14. Miguel Godinho de Matos & Idris Adjerid, 2022. "Consumer Consent and Firm Targeting After GDPR: The Case of a Large Telecom Provider," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 68(5), pages 3330-3378, May.
    15. Johannes Buggle & Thierry Mayer & Seyhun Orcan Sakalli & Mathias Thoenig, 2023. "The Refugee’s Dilemma: Evidence from Jewish Migration out of Nazi Germany," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 138(2), pages 1273-1345.
    16. Emmanuel Ebo Arthur & Solomon Gyamfi & Wolfgang Gerstlberger & Jan Stejskal & Viktor Prokop, 2023. "Towards Circular Economy: Unveiling Heterogeneous Effects of Government Policy Stringency, Environmentally Related Innovation, and Human Capital within OECD Countries," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(6), pages 1-18, March.
    17. Alex Hollingsworth & Krzysztof Karbownik & Melissa A. Thomasson & Anthony Wray, 2024. "The Gift of a Lifetime: The Hospital, Modern Medicine, and Mortality," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 114(7), pages 2201-2238, July.
    18. Jiayuan Zhou & Yunxia Li & Bo Li, 2022. "Restructure or Misallocation? Enterprises’ Carbon Emission Intensity under Market Integration," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(24), pages 1-18, December.
    19. Magnus Lodefalk & Fredrik Sjöholm & Aili Tang, 2022. "International trade and labour market integration of immigrants," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 45(6), pages 1650-1689, June.
    20. Beniamino Quintieri & Giovanni Stamato, 2023. "Are preferential agreements beneficial to EU trade? New evidence from the EU–South Korea treaty," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 46(12), pages 3511-3541, December.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:ecinqu:v:62:y:2024:i:3:p:1074-1089. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/weaaaea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.