
Walking the walk
This project seeks to apply the principles of AI for Fair Work, by using these as a benchmark for empirical on workers’ experiences of the implementation of AI systems in the workplace.
Economics plays a central role in policy, business, and competition regulation—not to mention debates on issues ranging from intellectual property to network neutrality. It’s important to understand how technology shapes economic life, and to study the economic and social implications of new market structures and business models.
Economic analysis can be used as a methodological toolset for rigorous thinking about important social issues, with strong positive and normative policy statements emerging naturally from this foundation.
This project seeks to apply the principles of AI for Fair Work, by using these as a benchmark for empirical on workers’ experiences of the implementation of AI systems in the workplace.
This project seeks to provide an economic model of data-driven mergers: mergers involving a significant transfer of data between firms. It will study how they affect competition in the relevant markets, to identify potential harms and guide policy.
This project seeks to review the Indian government’s policies relating to AI and Work, to improve understanding of how they are/can be (re)configured to account for and address the informality that characterises Indian urban labour markets.
The latest opinion and comment from our researchers.
8 November 2023
In their new blog, OII alumna Barani Maung Maung and Dr Keegan McBride, discuss how the emerging risks associated with Generative AI systems have higher negative potential in countries where non-dominant global language are spoken.
27 October 2023
The OII is leading the debate on Artificial Intelligence. Generative AI has been a key area of interest for faculty, researchers and students for many years. This article brings together some of this work to date and highlights forthcoming work.
24 October 2023
Researchers at the Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford, and the Center for Social Data Science, University of Copenhagen, find that the economic value of a skill is determined by how well it can be combined with other worker competencies.
Irish Independent, 16 November 2023
A woman’s work is never done. That old chestnut keeps running through my mind as I read the headlines about how artificial intelligence (AI) is potentially going to take all of our jobs, including some of the roles we never wanted in the first place.
Frankfurter Rundschau, 08 November 2023
In an ever-changing world, digitalization is a driver of innovation. It accelerates developments, opens up possibilities and bridges distances.
Computer World, 04 November 2023
The word of the year should be “complementarity.” Whoever best combines their existing skillset with AI knowledge wins.
Professor of Economic Sociology and Digital Social Research
Vili Lehdonvirta examines the politics and socio-economic impacts of digital technologies. He is one of the world's most cited authors on gig work and the platform economy. His current research deals with the geopolitics of digital infrastructures.
Many of the OII’s faculty work on digital economies, including Vili Lehdonvirta, who is Professor of Economic Sociology and Digital Social Research at the Oxford Internet Institute. Lehdonvirta is an economic sociologist whose research focuses on digital technologies, such as apps, platforms, and marketplaces — how they are governed, how they shape the organization of economic activities, and with what implications to workers, consumers, businesses, and policy. His research has been published in the Journal of Management, New Media & Society, Sociology, and other leading academic journals.
Lehdonvirta is the principal investigator of iLabour, a major research project on online freelancing and the gig economy, funded by the European Research Council. He has also led research projects on online labour markets’ effects in rural areas and crowdworkers’ skill development. His other recent research takes a critical look at Bitcoin and blockchain. His previous research on virtual goods, virtual consumption and digital games is summarized in Virtual Economies: Design and Analysis, published by MIT Press and translated to Chinese by China Renmin University Press.
Lehdonvirta’s research draws on theories and approaches from economic sociology, new institutional economics, labour sociology, and science and technology studies. He and his students and postdoctoral researchers use a range of conventional social research methods as well as novel data science approaches. Lehdonvirta sits on the editorial boards of the journals Policy & Internet, The Information Society, Electronic Commerce Research and the Journal of International Business Policy.
Research into economics at the OII is carried out by faculty and students from diverse background. Some of our researchers were trained in economics, while others apply the lenses of other disciplines, like geography, sociology, and data science, to economic problems.
Associate Professor, Senior Research Fellow
Greg Taylor's research focuses on the economics of competition policy and regulation for digital and technology markets.
Professor of Internet Geography
Mark Graham is an economic geographer. His research focuses on digital labour, the gig economy, and digital inequalities. He is the author, most recently, of The Gig Economy: A Critical Introduction.
Research Associate
Matthew Cole was a Postdoctoral Researcher with Fairwork, investigating global platforms. His research interests include the political economy of technology and platforms, particularly the transformation of work.