Net benefits
How to quantify the gains that the internet has brought to consumers
WHEN her two-year-old daughter was diagnosed with cancer in 1992,
Judy Mollica spent hours in a nearby medical library in south
Florida, combing through journals for information about her child’s
condition. Upon seeing an unfamiliar term she would stop and hunt down
its meaning elsewhere in the library. It was, she says, like “walking
in the dark”. Her daughter recovered but in 2005 was diagnosed with
a different form of cancer. This time, Ms Mollica was able to stay by
her side. She could read articles online, instantly look up medical
and scientific terms on Wikipedia, and then follow footnotes to new
sources. She could converse with her daughter’s specialists like a
fellow doctor. Wikipedia, she says, not only saved her time but gave her
a greater sense of control. “You can’t put a price on that.”
http://www.economist.com/news/finance-and-economics/21573091-how-quantify-g…