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Privacy and Freedom: An Economic (Re-)Evaluation of Privacy

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  • Dominik Aaken
  • Andreas Ostermaier
  • Arnold Picot

Abstract

type="main"> Departing from the mostly skeptical view of privacy encountered in economics, we re-evaluate privacy from the perspective of economic liberalism. We argue that freedom is fundamental to economics and conceive privacy as a specific form of freedom. We then apply the principle that freedom cannot be ‘self-defeating’ (no one is free not to be free) to privacy. This principle requires that restrictions of freedom and, by extension, privacy be revocable. We thus develop a novel concept of privacy, which leads us to evaluate privacy favorably, and apply the revocability requirement to identify unacceptable restrictions of privacy.

Suggested Citation

  • Dominik Aaken & Andreas Ostermaier & Arnold Picot, 2014. "Privacy and Freedom: An Economic (Re-)Evaluation of Privacy," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 67(2), pages 133-155, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:kyklos:v:67:y:2014:i:2:p:133-155
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1111/kykl.12047
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Morlok, Tina & Matt, Christian & Hess, Thomas, 2017. "Privatheitsforschung in den Wirtschaftswissenschaften: Entwicklung, Stand und Perspektiven," Working Papers 1/2017, University of Munich, Munich School of Management, Institute for Information Systems and New Media.
    2. Andreas Ostermaier & Dominik Aaken, 2020. "Freedom trumps profit: a liberal approach to business ethics," Journal of Business Economics, Springer, vol. 90(5), pages 947-962, June.

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