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GDP-B: Accounting for the Value of New and Free Goods in the Digital Economy

Author

Listed:
  • Erik Brynjolfsson
  • Avinash Collis
  • W. Erwin Diewert
  • Felix Eggers
  • Kevin J. Fox

Abstract

The welfare contributions of the digital economy, characterized by the proliferation of new and free goods, are not well-measured in our current national accounts. We derive explicit terms for the welfare contributions of these goods and introduce a new metric, GDP-B which quantifies their benefits, rather than costs. We apply this framework to several empirical examples including Facebook and smartphone cameras and estimate their valuations through incentive compatible choice experiments. For example, including the welfare gains from Facebook would have added between 0.05 and 0.11 percentage points to GDP-B growth per year in the US.

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  • Erik Brynjolfsson & Avinash Collis & W. Erwin Diewert & Felix Eggers & Kevin J. Fox, 2019. "GDP-B: Accounting for the Value of New and Free Goods in the Digital Economy," NBER Working Papers 25695, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:25695
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D6 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics
    • E2 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment
    • O1 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development
    • O4 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity
    • O47 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - Empirical Studies of Economic Growth; Aggregate Productivity; Cross-Country Output Convergence

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