The economics of (mis)information in the age of social media. New media technologies allow anyone to broadcast their views, leading to a “cacophony of voices” where misinformation flourishes. Tools from information economics are tailor-made for understanding information consumption in settings with many biased news sources. We develop economic models where many sources compete to attract and influence heterogenous listeners. We then study how misinformation spreads and amplifies when consumers ....The economics of (mis)information in the age of social media. New media technologies allow anyone to broadcast their views, leading to a “cacophony of voices” where misinformation flourishes. Tools from information economics are tailor-made for understanding information consumption in settings with many biased news sources. We develop economic models where many sources compete to attract and influence heterogenous listeners. We then study how misinformation spreads and amplifies when consumers of information communicate with many others through a social network. Finally, we study how to design simple and robust rules to foster informative discourse and filter misinformation. The results will shape economic policy recommendations for regulating misinformation in media platforms and social media.Read moreRead less
Privacy, Data Protection and Market Structure. The rise of the digital economy has led to an unprecedented scale of data collection, storage and processing, creating new privacy risks for individuals. This project will provide an economic analysis of the incentives and institutions necessary to ensure data is sufficiently protected while also providing adequate levels of privacy to individuals. It will do this by exploring the optimal design of privacy laws, data breach notification laws, and th ....Privacy, Data Protection and Market Structure. The rise of the digital economy has led to an unprecedented scale of data collection, storage and processing, creating new privacy risks for individuals. This project will provide an economic analysis of the incentives and institutions necessary to ensure data is sufficiently protected while also providing adequate levels of privacy to individuals. It will do this by exploring the optimal design of privacy laws, data breach notification laws, and the relationship between promoting competition and encouraging data protection investment. The outcomes of this research will contribute to the efforts of the federal government to build a secure and resilient digital infrastructure that supports the entire Australian knowledge economy.Read moreRead less