The Economics of Network Industries

by Oz Shy

Overview

This book introduces upper-level undergraduates, graduate students, and researchers to the latest developments in network economics, one of the fastest-growing fields in all industrial organization. Network industries include the Internet, e-mail, telephony, computer hardware and software, music and video players, and service operations in the banking, legal, and airlines industries among many others. The work offers an overview of the subject matter as well as investigations about specific industries. It conveys the essential features of how strategic interactions between firms are affected by network activity, as well as covering social interaction and its influence on consumers' choices of products and services. Virtually no calculus is used in the text, and each chapter ends with a series of exercises and selected references. The text may be used for both one- and two-semester courses.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781107713567
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	01/08/2001
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	8 MB

Table of Contents

1. Introduction; 2. The hardware industry; 3. The software industry; 4. Technology, advance, and standardization; 5. Telecommunication; 6. Broadcasting; 7. Markets for information; 8. Banks and money; 9. The airline industry: social interaction; 10. Other networks; Appendix A. Normal-form games; Appendix B. Extensive-form games; Appendix C. Undercut-proof equilibria.

Editorial Reviews

"[T]he book consists of a vivid presentation of what a network industry is [and is] the best single source for anyone wanting to get acquainted with the state of the art in this field today." Luca Lambertini, University of Bologna, Southern Economic Journal

"At last: a definitive textbook on the economic theory of high technology! Up until now the literature on network economics has only been available in advanced journals. Oz Shy has managed to package it beautifully so that it is accessible to advanced undergraduates and beginning graduate students." Hal Varian, University of California, Berkeley

"Oz Shy offers us in his latest book a very elegant, neat, and simple presentation of what economists have accomplished in the field of network goods. The array of topics covered is impressive: it ranges for the hardware and software industries to bank- and money-related issues. This is a major book edvoted to a major topic. It should be read those students, scholars or decision/policy makers who want to understand something about this new (although sometimes quite old) domain of human activity and academic research." Jacques Thisse, CORE, Belgium

"This valuable book about critical area of growing economic importance, by an author who himself has made significant contributions to the subject, fills a real gap in the market. It should be useful for both advanced undergraduate and graduate classes." Paul Klemperer, Nuffield College, Oxford University

"This valuable book about a critical area of growing economic importance, by an author who himself has made significant contributions to the subject, fills a real gap in the market. It should be useful for both advanced undergraduate and graduate classes." Paul Klemperer, Nuffield College, Oxford University

"Shy has succeeded in simplifying the arguments that economists have been feverishly debating in academic journals in the fields of network industries from telephony to the Internet...of considerable interest to researchers, industry professionals regulators and policymakers seeking a clear and concise explanation of the economics of high technology network industries as well as anyone interested in the Internet browser wars, implications of electronic libraries and publishing or the activities of omnipresent media communications moguls such as Bill Gates or Rupert Murdoch." CBQ

From the Publisher