A welfare analysis of "junk" information and spam filters

Josef Falkinger

No 811, SOI - Working Papers from Socioeconomic Institute - University of Zurich

Abstract: This paper analyses the equilibrium effects of individual information filters. Information is modelled as advertisements which are distributed across a population of consumers with heterogeneous preferences. An advertisement that provides knowledge about a product with little or no utility for a consumer is considered junk. Filters are characterised by their level of tolerance. The quality of the filter is measured in terms of the share of useful items in the total set of items passing the filter. It is shown that in conditions of decentralised competition, multiple equilibria arise. A social optimum can be achieved by demanding each consumer to reject a certain percentage of advertisements, leaving the choice of what is rejected up to the consumer him/herself.

Keywords: global information society; advertising; junk information; spam filter; Internet regulation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D18 D83 L86 M38 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 34 pages
Date: 2008-10
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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