Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization
Vol. 149, Pages 106-122
May 2018; Online March 2018
Abstract
In this paper, we focus on recorded music gifts during the holiday season and estimate the reduction in deadweight loss due to the transition from physical CD gift-giving to digital music gift-giving with gift cards. Based on our survey data, we find that music CD gifts generate an average deadweight loss between 15% and 38% of the price. According to our estimates of gift music album sales which are based on U.S. data, the welfare gains from digitization, in terms of eliminated deadweight loss as a percentage of total spending on music albums, were between 5% and 13% during the week when digital sales peak in 2014.
Citation
Bourreau, Marc, and Pinar Dogan. "Gains from Digitization: Evidence from Gift-Giving in Music." Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization 149 (May 2018; Online March 2018): 106-122.