Privacy economics is a branch of economics that studies the value, protection, and market for privacy and private information. This subfield has several defining features: it considers the construction and nature of information in economic activities, deals typically with personal information, considers the disclosure and dissemination of that information by one or more third parties, and questions the utility and impact of these activities if disclosure is outside of the originating owner’s control.
Privacy economics is a subfield of information economics. It focuses on the disclosure and economic use of a type of information that is typically generated and owned by individuals. Privacy economics provides an umbrella term for understanding when this information may be disclosed, subsequently aggregated and used by a third party in a variety of economic activities. Debates surrounding privacy economics largely fall.
