Hal R. Varian is the Class of 1944 Professor at the School of Information Management and Systems (SIMS) , the Haas School of Business, and the Department of Economics at the University of California, Berkeley. From 1995-2002, he served as the founding dean of SIMS. He received his S.B. degree from MIT in 1969 and his MA (mathematics) and Ph.D. (economics) from UC Berkeley in 1973. He has taught at MIT, Stanford, Oxford, Michigan and other universities around the world. Professor Varian is a fellow of the Guggenheim Foundation, the Econometric Society, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He has served as Co-Editor of the American Economic Review and is on the editorial boards of several journals. Professor Varian has published numerous papers in economic theory, industrial organization, financial economics, econometrics and information economics. He is the author of two major economics textbooks which have been translated into 22 languages. His current research has been concerned with the economics of information technology and the information economy. He is the co-author of a bestselling book on business strategy, Information Rules: A Strategic Guide to the Network Economy and writes a monthly column for the The New York Times.

1 The Information Economy
2 Pricing Information
3 Versioning Information
4 Rights Management
5 Recognizing Lock-In
6 Managing Lock-In
7 Networks and Positive Feedback
8 Cooperation and Compatibility
9 Waging a Standards War
10 Information Policy

In Information Rules, authors Shapiro and Varian reveal that many classic economic concepts can provide the insight and understanding necessary to succeed in the information age. They argue that if managers seriously want to develop effective strategies for competing in the new economy, they must understand the fundamental economics of information technology. Whether information takes the form of software code or recorded music, is published in a book or magazine, or even posted on a website, managers must know how to evaluate the consequences of pricing, protecting, and planning new versions of information products, services, and systems. The first book to distill the economics of information and networks into practical business strategies, Information Rules is a guide to the winning moves that can help business leaders navigate successfully through the tough decisions of the information economy.