Information and Communications Technology in Chronic Disease Care: Why is Adoption So Slow and Is Slower Better?

Unlike the widespread adoption of information and communications technology (ICT) in much of the economy, adoption of ICT in clinical care is limited. We examine how a number of not previously emphasized features of the health care and ICT markets interact and exacerbate each other to create barriers for adoption. We also examine how standards can address these barriers and the key issues to consider before investing in ICT. We conclude that the ICT market exhibits a number of unique features that may delay or completely prevent adoption, including low product differentiation, high switching costs, and lack of technical compatibility. These barriers are compounded by the many interlinked markets in health care, which substantially blunt the use of market forces to influence adoption. Patient heterogeneity also exacerbates the barriers by wide variation in needs and ability for using ICT, by high demands for interoperability, and by higher replacement costs. Technical standards are critical for ensuring optimal use of the technology. Careful consideration of the socially optimal time to invest is needed. The value of waiting in health care is likely to be so much greater than in other sectors because the costs of adopting the wrong type of ICT are so much higher.

The Institutional Character of Electronic Money Schemes: Redeemability and the Unit of Account

A number of commentators have argued that technological innovation is about to change the institutional structure of the retail payments system. Through the potential private issue of currency via new electronic payments systems – electronic money – individuals will create currencies based on units of account different from the dominant unit of account in the respective market. Thereby, the efficiency of the retail payments system would be enhanced. The following paper, however, denies the desirability of the parallel use of multiple units of account and the feasibility of competition in fiat-type currencies. The recent literature and Menger’s views on the subject are surveyed. Furthermore, the question is analyzed from an evolutionary point of view based on the interpretation of new electronic payments systems as networks The strategic incentives for issuers and users of currency to switch from the existing dominant unit of account to an alternative one are discussed. It is concluded that new electronic payments systems will provide redeemability on demand and that they will not diminish the role the national currencies as the dominant unit of account without specific regulation interfering in the their evolution.Electronic money, Carl Menger, Origin of Money, Austrian Economics

The diffusion of IP telephony and vendors' commercialisation strategies

This is a post-peer-review, pre-copyedit version of an article published in the Journal of Information Technology. The definitive publisher-authenticated version is available at the link below.The Internet telephony (IP telephony) has been presented as a technology that can replace existing fixed-line services and disrupt the telecommunications industry by offering new low-priced services. This study investigates the diffusion of IP telephony in Denmark by focusing on vendors’ commercialisation strategies. The theory of disruptive innovation is introduced to investigate vendors’ perceptions about IP telephony and explore their strategies that affect the diffusion process in the residential market. The analysis is based on interview data collected from the key market players. The study's findings suggest that IP telephony is treated as a sustaining innovation that goes beyond the typical voice transmission and enables provision of advanced services such as video telephony

Improving consumer mobility in the mobile voice services market: a comprehensive set of remedies

Switching costs increase the rigidity of consumers demand and lessen competition between firms, effects that are particularly relevant in the mobile voice services market. This paper characterizes the most important mobility restrictive factors for consumers in this market, presenting specific examples and discussing their impact on competition. In addition, a survey was conducted to obtain data on consumption decisions by mobile voice customers in Portugal. The survey results suggest that switching costs represent more than 13 euros or 57% of the average monthly expenditure with these services. The disclosure of a new mobile phone number is the most difficult task in the switching process. Customers also showed high concern with respect to the possibility of losing quality of service. Compatibility costs also impose high restrictions to customer mobility. Following the identification of these restrictive factors, the adoption by policy makers of remedies to address the different search and switching costs is discussed and their implementation prioritized according to mobile customers' needs. --Switching costs,search costs,remedies

Adoption of New Technology

The contribution of new technology to economic growth can only be realized when and if the new technology is widely diffused and used. Diffusion itself results from a series of individual decisions to begin using the new technology, decisions which are often the result of a comparison of the uncertain benefits of the new invention with the uncertain costs of adopting it. An understanding of the factors affecting this choice is essential both for economists studying the determinants of growth and for the creators and producers of such technologies. Section II of this article discusses the modeling of diffusion and Sections III to V explore the determinants of diffusion and the evidence for their importance.

Adoption of New Technology

The contribution of new technology to economic growth can only be realized when and if the new technology is widely diffused and used. Diffusion itself results from a series of individual decisions to begin using the new technology, decisions which are often the result of a comparison of the uncertain benefits of the new invention with the uncertain costs of adopting it. An understanding of the factors affecting this choice is essential both for economists studying the determinants of growth and for the creators and producers of such technologies. Section II of this article discusses the modeling of diffusion and Sections III to V explore the determinants of diffusion and the evidence for their importance.

Internet economics and policy: An Australian perspective

Publicly available information indicates that the demand and supply of Internet and Internet-related services are continuing to expand at a rapid pace. Since 1997 the number of Internet service providers (facilities-based and resellers) has increased by nearly 40 per cent; the number of points-of-presence per Internet service provider has increased by five times; the number of hosts connected to the Internet has more than quadrupled; and Internet traffic has increased from six to 10 times. The emergence of electronic commerce (e-commerce), driven by this rapid adoption of Internet services and continual technological innovation, is likely to have profound economic and social impacts on Australian society. This paper provides a detailed analysis of the impact of the Internet and e-commerce, ranging from the changes in the market structure of the telecommunications industry, its role in changing the organisation of traditional markets, the emergence of new markets, and the structural shifts to employment, productivity and trade. The paper also analyses contemporary Australian regulatory responses. IIe-commerce; internet economics

Standard setting and competition in securities settlement

This paper examines the impact of messaging and technical standards on competition in the supply of se-curities transaction management services. Two simple switching cost models are used to clarify the im-pact of standards on barriers to entry and on the incentives to adopt harmonised and simplified securities processing standards. Policy implications are discussed briefly.securities settlement; standards; inter-operability; switching costs