Something is lost in the translation here. Economic figures tend to be analyzed in the aggregate rather than the individual purchase. That's from Economics 102. In true Socratic fashion, Dertouzos searches for definitions. Like the Greek philosopher, Dertouzos has trouble with his definitions.
Information has economic value if it leads to the satisfaction of human desires.
A small portion is intermediate goods from supply and demand. By far the larger portion is intermediate goods that derive their value substantially from the value of the goods and services to which they lead. As an example, he analyzes the value of a postal mailing list, and how a business selling encyclopedias places value on that information. These lists are exceedingly important to these companies, he argues, to identify families with children who may use the materials. Unfortunately, this example ignores the fact that most encyclopedia companies are about out of the business of selling books and have devised a new strategy for selling materials online, creating a entirely different marketing scheme that bundles the encyclopedia with computer resellers and manufacturers.