The Economics of Internet Search

Hal R. Varian

'Angelo Costa' Lectures Serie, 2007, issue Lect. VIII

Abstract: This lecture provides an introduction to the economics of Internet search engines. After a brief review of the historical development of the technology and the industry, I describe some of the economic features of the auction system used for displaying ads. It turns out that some relatively simple economic models provide significant insight into the operation of these auctions. In particular, the classical theory of two-sided matching markets turns out to be very useful in this context.

JEL-codes: L86 D83 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2007
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Persistent link: http://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:rpo:leanco:2007

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