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My scale or your meter? Evaluating methods of measuring the Internet

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  • Giacomello, Giampiero
  • Picci, Lucio

Abstract

Measuring the Internet - the size of its infrastructure, how many people use it, and their prevalent uses - is of obvious interest. However, the wealth of available quantitative information regarding the Internet so far has fallen short of satisfying the many needs that it would fulfill. We set the problem of measuring the Internet into a framework that allows us to derive insights on the peculiar nature of the Internet as a piece of infrastructure. After reviewing the current measures available, while drawing a distinction between the object of measurement, and the types of institutions involved in it, we provide some indications on what data should be trusted more, and how better measures of the Internet could be obtained.
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  • Giacomello, Giampiero & Picci, Lucio, 2003. "My scale or your meter? Evaluating methods of measuring the Internet," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 15(3), pages 363-383, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:iepoli:v:15:y:2003:i:3:p:363-383
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    1. Picci, Lucio, 2006. "The quantitative evaluation of the economic impact of e-government: A structural modelling approach," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 18(1), pages 107-123, March.
    2. Picci, Lucio, 2006. "Misurare l'E-Government: il caso italiano [Measuring E-government: the Italian case]," MPRA Paper 3343, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. Rajeev Goel & Edward Hsieh & Michael Nelson & Rati Ram, 2006. "Demand elasticities for Internet services," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 38(9), pages 975-980.
    4. Andonova, Veneta & Diaz-Serrano, Luis, 2009. "Political institutions and telecommunications," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 89(1), pages 77-83, May.
    5. Ko, Kwan Wai, 2007. "Internet externalities and location of foreign direct investment: A comparison between developed and developing countries," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 19(1), pages 1-23, March.

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