Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/202198 
Year of Publication: 
2014
Series/Report no.: 
Institute for Prospective Technological Studies Digital Economy Working Paper No. 2014/08
Publisher: 
European Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC), Seville
Abstract: 
Several studies have examined the market value of paid-for internet services and internet access. This paper estimates the value of leisure time spent online for which the consumer pays no monetary price and which has become increasingly important as a leisure activity. We apply a methodology developed be Goolsbee and Klenow (2006), which relies on differences in time spent online and opportunity cost of time, to an internet users’ clickstream dataset for the five largest economies in the European Union (Germany, United Kingdom, France, Italy and Spain). We find that, according to our most conservative measure, leisure time spent on the internet generated a consumer surplus of between 0.6 and 1% of full income in 2011 in the countries studied. The total consumer surplus for each country amounted to between 18 billion euros (Italy) and 44 billion euros (Germany).
Subjects: 
Internet Services
Consumer Surplus
Leisure
JEL: 
D12
D6
L86
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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