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Economic Research on Privacy Regulation: Lessons from the GDPR and Beyond

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  • Garrett Johnson

Abstract

This paper reviews the economic literature on the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). I highlight key challenges for studying the regulation including the difficulty of finding a suitable control group, variable firm compliance and regulatory enforcement, as well as the regulation's impact on data observability. The economic literature on the GDPR to date has largely—though not universally—documented harms to firms. These harms include firm performance, innovation, competition, the web, and marketing. On the elusive consumer welfare side, the literature documents some objective privacy improvements as well as helpful survey evidence. The literature also examines the consequences of the GDPR's design decisions and illuminates how the GDPR works in practice. Finally, I suggest opportunities for future research on the GDPR as well as privacy regulation and privacy-related innovation more broadly.

Suggested Citation

  • Garrett Johnson, 2022. "Economic Research on Privacy Regulation: Lessons from the GDPR and Beyond," NBER Working Papers 30705, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:30705
    Note: IO LE PE
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. 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.
    2. Christian Peukert & Florian Abeillon & J'er'emie Haese & Franziska Kaiser & Alexander Staub, 2024. "Strategic Behavior and AI Training Data," Papers 2404.18445, arXiv.org.
    3. 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.
    4. Yassine Lefouili & Leonardo Madio & Ying Lei Toh, 2024. "Privacy regulation and quality-enhancing innovation," Post-Print hal-04774302, HAL.
    5. Peukert, Christian, 2024. "Copyright levies and cloud storage: Ex-ante policy evaluation with a field experiment," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 53(2).
    6. Amalia R. Miller & Kamalini Ramdas & Alp Sungu, 2023. "Browsers Don’t Lie? Gender Differences in the Effects of the Indian COVID-19 Lockdown on Digital Activity and Time Use," NBER Working Papers 31919, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. 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.
    8. Patel, Pankaj C. & Oghazi, Pejvak & Arunachalam, S., 2023. "Does consumer privacy act influence firm performance in the retail industry? Evidence from a US state-level law change," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 162(C).
    9. Tommaso Bondi & Omid Rafieian, 2023. "Privacy and Polarization: An Inference-Based Approach," Working Papers 23-09, NET Institute.
    10. Masayuki Morikawa, 2023. "Compliance costs and productivity: an approach from working hours," Journal of Regulatory Economics, Springer, vol. 63(3), pages 117-137, June.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • K2 - Law and Economics - - Regulation and Business Law
    • L51 - Industrial Organization - - Regulation and Industrial Policy - - - Economics of Regulation

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