The Simple Economics of Open Source / Josh Lerner, Jean Triole.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Lerner, Josh.

Contributor:

National Bureau of Economic Research.

Triole, Jean.

Series:

Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) no. w7600.

NBER working paper series no. w7600

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource: illustrations (black and white);

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 2000.

Summary:

There has been a recent surge of interest in open source software development, which involves developers at many different locations and organizations sharing code to develop and refine programs. To an economist, the behavior of individual programmers and commercial companies engaged in open source projects is initially startling. This paper makes a preliminary exploration of the economics of open source software. We highlight the extent to which labor economics, especially the literature on career concerns,' can explain many of these projects' features. Aspects of the future of open source development process, however, remain somewhat difficult to predict with off-the-shelf' economic models.

Notes:

Print version record

March 2000.