Economics of standard: a survey and framework

This paper surveys issues in economics of standards-the contribution to the understanding of standards based on economic theories. The survey focuses on standards in telecommunications. The economic nature of standards, their consequences, and the advantages/disadvantages of standards are investigated. Selected literature from 1984 to 2000 is examined and critiqued in an annotated bibliography, which is sub-divided into four areas: (1) network externalities and technology adoption, (2) compatibility of standards, systems, or components, (3) exclusionary/strategic behaviors, and (4) other frameworks. Considered as a whole, the empirical and theoretical issues analyzed herein, as well as the methodologies, have sufficient quality and depth to form a generalized framework, which we hope to develop in future work