How Should We Measure the Digital Economy?
Focus on the value created, not just the prices paid. byErik Brynjolfsson andAvinash Collis
Nick Smith
Summary.
Suppose we make you anoffer. Yougive up access to Google search for one month, and we pay you $10. No? How about $100? $1,000? What would we need to pay you to forgo access to Wikipedia? Your answer can help us understand the value of the digital economy.
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A version of this article appeared in the November–December 2019 issue ofHarvard Business Review.
Erik Brynjolfsson is the director of the Stanford Digital Economy Lab, a professor at the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered AI, a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research, and a cofounder of Workhelix, which creates generative AI strategies and implementation plans for companies.
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Avinash Collis is an Assistant Professor at the Heinz College of Information Systems and Public Policy at Carnegie Mellon University.
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