Crowdfunding is well suited to industries that create intellectual property, says Hal Varian, Google's chief economist.

ECONOMIST: Raising capital online

Next it introduced search-based advertising and hired Hal Varian to do the math on second place auctions.

FORBES: Google + and The First $20 Billion Thought Leadership Bonus

Google Chief Economist Hal Varian has shown that search can act as a proxy for purchasing intent in markets like autos and real estate.

FORBES: Eduardo Saverin Jeopardy for Zuckerberg as Oscars Beckon for The Social Network

When Mr Economides's site is overloaded, try for variety Hal Varian's.

ECONOMIST: Economics on the net

" Information Rules", by Carl Shapiro and Hal Varian.

ECONOMIST: Acknowledgements

Much irritation has already been caused by aggressive internet marketing, such as persistent pop-up ads, says Hal Varian, professor of information management at the University of California at Berkeley (and an adviser to Google).

ECONOMIST: Unlimited opportunities?

B2B pioneers envisaged them, it is now clear that independent exchanges such as DoveBid depend crucially on deep industry knowledge and must add value with services that facilitate transactions, says Hal Varian of the School of Information Management and Systems at the University of California, Berkeley.

ECONOMIST: If you think B2B marketplaces are dead, read on