Information Rules

Shapiro and Varian argue that the digital economy follows durable economic laws, not entirely new rules. They explain how to price information goods, manage switching costs and lock-in, exploit network effects, and win standards battles. The book translates microeconomics into practical strategy for technology and media businesses.

Founders building software, marketplaces, or platforms live and die by network effects, lock-in, and pricing, the exact forces this book dissects. It gives durable mental models that long outlast any single product cycle. Decades on, it remains the clearest primer on the economics underneath modern tech businesses.