Journal of Economic Perspectives
ISSN 0895-3309 (Print) | ISSN 1944-7965 (Online)
The Economics of Technology Sharing: Open Source and Beyond
Journal of Economic Perspectives
vol. 19,
no. 2, Spring 2005
(pp. 99–120)
(Complimentary)
Abstract
This paper reviews our understanding of the growing open source movement. We highlight how many aspects of open source software appear initially puzzling to an economist. As we have acknowledged, our ability to answer confidently many of the issues raised here questions is likely to increase as the open source movement itself grows and evolves. At the same time, it is heartening to us how much of open source activities can be understood within existing economic frameworks, despite the presence of claims to the contrary. The labor and industrial organization literatures provide lenses through which the structure of open source projects, the role of contributors, and the movement's ongoing evolution can be viewed.Citation
Lerner, Josh, and Jean Tirole. 2005. "The Economics of Technology Sharing: Open Source and Beyond." Journal of Economic Perspectives, 19 (2): 99–120. DOI: 10.1257/0895330054048678JEL Classification
- L86 Information and Internet Services; Computer Software
- O31 Innovation and Invention: Processes and Incentives
- O32 Management of Technological Innovation and R&D
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