Publications of the Research Unit Digital Economy

  1. ZEW policy brief No. 23-02 // 2023

    Human Oversight Done Right: The AI Act Should Use Humans to Monitor AI Only When Effective

    The EU’s proposed Artificial Intelligence Act (AI Act) is meant to ensure safe AI systems in high-risk applications. The Act relies on human supervision of machine-learning algorithms, yet mounting evidence…

  2. Refereed Journal // 2023

    The Effects of Personal Information on Competition: Consumer Privacy and Partial Price Discrimination

    This article studies the effects of consumer information on the intensity of competition. In a two dimensional duopoly model of horizontal product differentiation, firms use consumer information to price…

  3. Refereed Journal // 2023

    More Cost-Sharing, Less Cost? Evidence on Reference Price Drugs

    This paper evaluates the causal effects of changes in reference prices (RP) on prices, copayments, and overall expenditures for off-patent pharmaceuticals. With reference pricing, firms set prices freely and the…

  4. ZEW-Branchenreport Informationswirtschaft // 2022

    4. Quartal 2022

    • Informationswirtschaft auf Erholungskurs
    • Unternehmen messen Daten eine hohe Bedeutung für ihr Geschäftsmodell bei
  5. ZEW Discussion Paper No. 22-071 // 2022

    Algorithmic Advice as a Credence Good

    Actors in various settings have been increasingly relying on algorithmic tools to support their decision-making. Much of the public debate concerning algorithms - especially the associated regulation of new…

  6. ZEW Discussion Paper No. 22-065 // 2022

    Measuring the Digitalisation of Firms – A Novel Text Mining Approach

    Due to the omnipresence of digital technologies in the economy, measuring firm digitalisation is of high importance. However, current indicators show several shortcomings, e.g., they lack timeliness and regional…