Inframarginal versus marginal analysis of networking decisions and e-commerce

Many participants in this year’s International Symposium of the Economics of e-Commerce and Networking Decisions may ask: what is the economics of e-commerce and networking decisions? After having had a look at the preliminary programme of the symposium, you may wonder what is meant by ‘inframarginal analysis’ and what is the relationship between inframarginal analysis and e-commerce? Some participants may think that this is a strange combination of two separate and distinct fields: one is a very business-oriented discussion about e-commerce in the real world and the other, a very academic economic analysis of networking decisions. Some may even think of this as a gimmick to sell boring economic theory by bundling it with the e-commerce stuff, which is of interest to many business economists. This speech addresses this concern and provides motivation for this symposium.