Information goods
An information good is from an economic perspective, a good whose market value is clear from the information contained. Examples are CDs with pieces of music or books with short stories. Information goods can either be in digitized form or in analog format. The valuable part of a piece of information consists of the pattern in which the material is arranged, for example the arrangement of ink on paper or the sequence of bits on a computer hard drive . These patterns can either be consumed directly by reading or looking at them (e.g. reading a book) or for operating other devices, which in turn can generate consumable patterns of information (e.g. a CD , the stored music of which is played using a CD player ). Information goods are in contrast to material goods (for example clothing, food or cars).
Information in economics
In the economics of information plays a double role. On the one hand, perfect information is a basic principle of the efficiency market hypothesis . Here it is assumed that information is instantly available to everyone, completely and free of charge. In real markets, on the other hand, information is a commodity, which is why we speak of information goods . Here information is assumed to be limited in principle in terms of access, costs, availability and completeness. In economics, there is therefore the problem of dealing with two contradicting information concepts at the same time. When efficiency is the dominant aspect of an analysis, commodification is considered harmful. If, on the other hand, incentives for creative activity are the dominant aspect of the analyzes, the protection of the author is usually considered dominant.
Individual evidence
- ^ Frank Linde: Economy of Information. Accessed January 1, 2019 (free download).
- ^ Markets for Information Goods .
- ↑ Boyle, James. Shamans, Software, and Spleens: Law and the Construction of the Information Society. Cambridge: Harvard UP, 1996