Human Computation and Economics

This article is devoted to economical aspects of Human Computation (HC) and to perspectives of HC in economics. As of economical aspects of HC, it is first observed that much of what makes HC systems effective is economical in nature suggesting that complexity being reconsidered as a “HC complexity ” and the con-ception of efficient HC systems as a “HC economics”. This article also points to the relevance of HC in the development of standard software and to the importance of competition in HC systems. As of HC in economics, it is first argued that markets can be seen as HC systems avant la lettre. Looking more closely at financial mar-kets, the article then points to a speed differential between transactions and credit risk awareness that compromises the efficiency of financial markets. Finally, a HC-based credit risk rating is proposed that, overcoming the afore mentioned speed differential, holds promise for better functioning financial markets. Human Computation Economics In working at ensuring the success of the gaming platform MetropolItalia1, the aim of which is to collect data for a linguistic study on the divergence of italian vernaculars and dialects, we investigated the following issues: • Incentives: What are the factors motivating both the potential users of the HC system to try it and its actual users to behave as it is needed?2 • Self-sufficiency. Does the HC system as a whole, or a part of it (like a single game), generate all data it needs for its proper working or does it require to regularly acquire new data from external systems (like other games)? A self-sufficient HC system is necessary if a first success is not to end up in a failure. Indeed, an increase in the number of users of a HC system in general calls for an increase of the data it relies upon. If a HC system is not self-sufficient, then the more popular i