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.
Digital technologies are transforming our work environments and demand for skills, with creative work severely affected. This project will use unique secondary data to measure changes in the UK’s creative service sector digital skill composition.
Drawing on the five OECD principles for responsible stewardship of trustworthy AI, this project proposes developing a set of accountability mechanisms to ensure AI systems foster fairer working conditions.
This project will examine how the growth of gig work in the United States can contribute to growing inequalities, and develop a framework for understanding best practice for fairer work standards.
The latest opinion and comment from our researchers.
17 May 2022
We are pleased to announce the publication of Digital Work in the Planetary Market, a new book analysing the geographies of digital work.
7 April 2022
Dr Otto Kässi and Professor Vili Lehdonvirta’s new study examines how digital skill certificates are affecting the labour market and impacting jobseekers and employers.
30 March 2022
Professor Lehdonvirta takes stock of everything that he and his research team have learned through iLabour, a major research project that he launched in 2015 with funding from the European Research Council.
FT, 28 March 2022
Chief executive Andrew Ellis credits “passion economy” for surging demand
g1, 17 March 2022
Study evaluates the situation of app drivers, motorcycle couriers and service providers in five categories. On a scale of zero to 10, the highest score among technology companies was 2.
The Intercept, 17 March 2022
From 0 to 10, iFood and 99 get a score of 2, Uber, 1, and Rappi and Uber Eats, zero. Remuneration and working conditions are among the worst in the world.
Professor of Economic Sociology and Digital Social Research
Vili Lehdonvirta is Professor of Economic Sociology and Digital Social Research at the Oxford Internet Institute. He examines how digital technologies are shaping the organization of economic activities in society.
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, Director of Graduate Studies
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.
Postdoctoral Researcher
Matthew Cole is a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Fairwork Foundation investigating global platforms. His research interests include the political economy of technology and platforms, particularly the transformation of work.
