ECON 101 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Technostructure, Financial Market, Free Rider Problem

• School: U of M
• Department: Economics
• Course: ECON 101
• Professor: William James Adams

Document Summary

The change in technology has change the product market of the newspaper industry. (the world before vs after, before and after the internet) Before the internet, we have printed press, then we have the radio (1920s) and television (late 1940s, early 1950s) (oral, visual). Fundamental change involves the introduction of the internet. Because of the free rider problem, there isn"t a mechanism for reimbursement which prevents the newspaper industry to move forward. At the level of conduct and performance, there is something unique about this industry. We usually look at the eiciency of the market when we consider the performance of the industry - eiciency related. We look at the news industry, the fundamental principles are diferent. High quality performance (democracy) is measured in terms of receiving the socially optimum amount of information to react in a civic way such as voting etc.