Mitigating the Tragedy of the Digital Commons: the Case of Unsolicited Commercial Email

Oleg V. Pavlov () and Nigel Melville
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Oleg V. Pavlov: Social Science and Policy Studies WPI

No 231, Computing in Economics and Finance 2005 from Society for Computational Economics

Abstract: The growth of unsolicited commercial email imposes increasing costs on organizations and causes considerable aggravation on the part of email recipients. A thriving anti-spam industry addresses some of the frustration. Regulation and various economic and technical means are in the works – all aimed at bringing down the flood of unwanted commercial email. This paper contributes to our understanding of the UCE phenomenon by drawing on scholarly work in areas of marketing and resource ownership and use. Adapting the tragedy of the commons to the email context, we identify a causal structure that drives the direct e-marketing industry. Computer simulations indicate that although filtering may be an effective method to curb UCE arriving at individual inboxes, it is likely to increase the aggregate volume, thereby boosting overall costs. We also examine other response mechanisms, including self-regulation, government regulation, and market mechanisms. The analysis advances understanding of the digital commons, the economics of UCE, and has practical implications for the direct e-marketing industry

Keywords: SPAM; Unsolicited Commercial Email (UCE); Tragedy of the Digital Commons; Simulation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C60 H40 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2005-11-11
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-mkt and nep-pbe
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sce:scecf5:231

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