International protection of consumer data*

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Chen, Yongmin; Hua, Xinyu; Maskus, Keith E.
• 署名单位: University of Colorado System; University of Colorado Boulder; Hong Kong University of Science & Technology
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0022-1996
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jinteco.2021.103517
• 发表日期: 2021
• 关键词: Consumer data; privacy; multinational firm; regulation; Data localization; International coordination

摘要

We study the international protection of consumer data in a model where data from product sales generate additional revenue to firms but disutility to consumers. When data usage lacks transparency, a firm suffers a commitment problem and overuses consumer data. Greater transparency enables the firm to commit to less data usage, which boosts consumer demand and leads to a higher price but also higher output if the firm operates only in one country. A multinational firm faces more challenges when balancing the trade-offs in data usage across countries that differ in consumer preferences for privacy. Contrary to the result for a single country, more transparency can exacerbate data-usage and output distortions in the global economy, and unilateral data regulation by a country may reduce global welfare. There can be substantial gains from international coordination-though not necessarily uniformity-of data regulations. (c) 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.