Privacy and Freedom: An Economic (Re-)Evaluation of Privacy

22 Pages Posted: 30 Jun 2013

See all articles by Dominik van Aaken

Dominik van Aaken

Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (LMU)

Andreas Ostermaier

University of Southern Denmark

Arnold Oskar Picot

Ludwig Maximilians University of Munich - Faculty of Business Administration (Munich School of Management)

Date Written: January 31, 2013

Abstract

Departing from the almost invariably skeptical view of privacy encountered in economics, we re-evaluate privacy from the perspective of economic liberalism. We argue that the idea of freedom is fundamental to economics and that privacy can be best conceived as a specific form of freedom. Furthermore, we apply the idea that freedom, and by extension privacy, cannot be ‘self-defeating,’ in the sense that people are not free to give up either permanently. This idea, which delimits restrictions on freedom and, by implication, on privacy is translated into a criterion that rules out unacceptable restrictions on privacy.

Keywords: Privacy, liberalism, freedom, normative theory

JEL Classification: A13, B41, D63, H11

Suggested Citation

Aaken, Dominik van and Ostermaier, Andreas and Picot, Arnold Oskar, Privacy and Freedom: An Economic (Re-)Evaluation of Privacy (January 31, 2013). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2286664 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2286664

Dominik van Aaken (Contact Author)

Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (LMU) ( email )

Geschwister-Scholl-Platz 1
Munich, DE Bavaria 80539
Germany

Andreas Ostermaier

University of Southern Denmark ( email )

Campusvej 55
Odense, 5230
Denmark

Arnold Oskar Picot

Ludwig Maximilians University of Munich - Faculty of Business Administration (Munich School of Management) ( email )

Ludwigstraße 28
München, 80995
Germany
+49 89 2180-2252 (Phone)
0049-89-2180-3685 (Fax)

HOME PAGE: http://www.iom.bwl.uni-muenchen.de

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