Introduction
To clarify the term, "Internet Economics" is defined as the study of the market for Internet services. Specifically, the effects of the supply and demand for services of various kind, among producers and consumers.
The belief that the Internet is "free" is a misconception: while there are a great many sites and services that can be accessed and utilized without a direct cost, there are numerous indirect costs that are incurred for these services:
- For the information provider, the cost of developing a service, hosting and maintaining it, etc. are more obvious
- For the user, there is a monthly service fee for the access, the cost of computer equipment, the cost of electricity, the opportunity cost of the time spent in online endeavors.
- For the commercial sector, there are a great deal of resources spent vying for the attention of a massive global audience
Structure
The book is divided into five parts:
The Economics of the Internet (Ch 1-4) provides an overview, addressing broad issues of economic economics from various perspectives.
Interconnection and Multicast Economics (Ch 5, 6, and 7) looks into the economic factors required to the physical network: those providers who develop network capabilities and provide access to individuals and companies.
Usage Sensitive Pricing (Ch 8 - 13) deals with the various strategies for pricing: flat-rate (such as residential users pay for access), usage-based (common to hosting providers), and transaction-based (advertising).
Internet Commerce (Ch 14-17) looks into the most obvious "economic" impact of the Internet, the buying and selling of goods and services in the online medium
Internet Economics and Policy (Ch 18 and 19) considers the various attempts by state entities to restrict and regulate the Internet
EN: Each chapter is written by a different set of authors. On one hand, each should read as a self-contained article and the order is largely arbitrary. On the other hand, some of the chapters will probably be very good and informative, while others may be random crap badly presented. Such is the nature of collaborative publications.