Information -- or more precisely, better information -- can be viewed much like any other commodity in that it is costly to acquire and provides benefits to the user. The goal is to identify the kinds of situations in which improvements in data or methods are likely to yield the greatest net benefit. From an economic standpoint, information itself has little intrinsic value. Instead, information acquires value when it facilitates optimizing behavior. That is, better information can lead to changes in actions, changes that themselves create value. Consider a common form of valuable information: a weather forecast. Farmers find weather forecasts valuable.
