Gdp-B: Accounting for the Value of New and Free Goods in the Digital Economy

55 Pages Posted: 1 Apr 2019 Last revised: 18 Mar 2023

See all articles by Erik Brynjolfsson

Erik Brynjolfsson

National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER); Stanford

Avinash Collis

University of Texas at Austin - Red McCombs School of Business

Erwin Diewert

University of British Columbia (UBC)

Felix Eggers

University of Groningen

Kevin J. Fox

UNSW Australia Business School, School of Economics

Multiple version iconThere are 2 versions of this paper

Date Written: March 2019

Abstract

The welfare contributions of the digital economy, characterized by the proliferation of new and free goods, are not well-measured in our current national accounts. We derive explicit terms for the welfare contributions of these goods and introduce a new metric, GDP-B which quantifies their benefits, rather than costs. We apply this framework to several empirical examples including Facebook and smartphone cameras and estimate their valuations through incentive compatible choice experiments. For example, including the welfare gains from Facebook would have added between 0.05 and 0.11 percentage points to GDP-B growth per year in the US.

Suggested Citation

Brynjolfsson, Erik and Collis, Avinash and Diewert, Erwin and Eggers, Felix and Fox, Kevin J., Gdp-B: Accounting for the Value of New and Free Goods in the Digital Economy (March 2019). NBER Working Paper No. w25695, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3363431

Erik Brynjolfsson (Contact Author)

National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) ( email )

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HOME PAGE: http://brynjolfsson.com

Avinash Collis

University of Texas at Austin - Red McCombs School of Business ( email )

Austin, TX
United States

HOME PAGE: http://www.avinash.info

Erwin Diewert

University of British Columbia (UBC) ( email )

2329 West Mall
Vancouver, British Columbia BC V6T 1Z4
Canada

Felix Eggers

University of Groningen

Kevin J. Fox

UNSW Australia Business School, School of Economics ( email )

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Sydney, NSW 2052
Australia
(02)9385-3320 (Phone)
(02)9313-6337 (Fax)

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