네트워크 외부성에 대한 문헌연구

A Survey on the Network Externalities with Implications for IT Industries

The theory of network externalities has received a great deal of attention for more than twenty years. In this paper, I conduct a survey on this fascinating issue, with a special focus on implications for IT industries. I first carefully look into the concepts of network externalities and their theoretical implications. Next, I make a critical survey on the small but growing empirical literature on network externalities and explains why it is difficult to estimate them directly. Finally, I introduce the traditional view on the policy implications of network externalities, but claim that they should be taken with some important caveats.