ABSTRACT
Elsewhere in this book, it has been made clear that privacy is a multidiscipli-nary field that can and should be viewed through many different lenses – e.g. social, legal, psychological, political, philosophical, ethical, technological, and economic (Hui and Png 2005). If privacy is studied through an economic lens, a multitude of intriguing questions arises. What are the economic trade-offs when it comes to privacy, both on the individual level and on the policy level? Is there a way to determine the economic value of privacy? Is there a difference between the real and perceived value of privacy? What are the individual, organizational, and societal costs and benefits of maintaining or giving up privacy? In the field of privacy economics, researchers are looking for the answers to these and similar questions, which recent technological and social developments have made more relevant than ever.
