Classroom Companion: Business

20.3.1 
 Marketing
Marketing and advertising are among the biggest applications of big data. By sift-
ing through the enormous amounts of information users place on social media, 
inspecting how mobile apps are used, monitoring web search, and recording bank 
card transactions, patterns may be found that can be used in targeted and personal-
ized marketing or to promote sales in new ways.
20.3.2 
 Health Care
The most important application of big data in health care is computer-aided diag-
nostics. This includes analysis of enormous data sets to match symptoms with pos-
sible diseases and for interpretation of X-ray, MR, and ultrasound images. Big 
data analytics is also important in medical research to handle complex and enor-
mous data sets generated in research projects and for meta-analysis where data and 
results from several independent studies are combined.
20.3.3 
 Algorithmic Financial Trading
Value and availability of stocks and securities in the stock market and currency 
exchange rates in the foreign exchange market (FOREX) fluctuate so rapidly that 
human traders are not able to follow them in real time. On the other hand, traders 
may earn much money from these markets if they are able to react to the fluctua-
tions rather than to time averages. Algorithmic trading is based on fast computer 
algorithms that can react to changes in the market in microseconds and sell or buy 
stocks or currencies at optimal instances. The technology requires algorithms that 
can sift through large amounts of data and make trading decisions within micro-
seconds based on patterns in these data.
 
Chapter 20 · Big Data Economics

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20.3.4 
 Government and Public Services
Governments may use big data to prepare more extensive national statistics by com-
bining information from public and private databases. Big data may also be used to 
monitor and improve public services. Fingerprints, retina scans, face recognition 
data, DNA profiles, and other biometric data of own inhabitants and foreigners 
visiting the country are also stored. These and other data may be used by govern-
ments for social control of the population and monitor or expel unwanted visitors.