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Private Provision of a Complementary Public Good

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Author Info
Richard Schmidtke ()
Abstract

For several years, an increasing number of firms have been investing in Open Source Software (OSS). While improvements in such a non-excludable public good cannot be appropriated, companies can benefit indirectly in a complementary proprietary segment. We study this incentive for investment in OSS. In particular we ask how (1) market entry and (2) public investments in the public good affect the firms' production and profits. Surprisingly, we find that there exist cases where incumbents benefit from market entry. Moreover, we show the counter-intuitive result that public spending does not necessarily lead to a decreasing voluntary private contribution.

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Publisher Info
Paper provided by CESifo GmbH in its series CESifo Working Paper Series with number CESifo Working Paper No. 1756.

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Date of creation: 2006
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Handle: RePEc:ces:ceswps:_1756

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Related research
Keywords: Open Source Software private provision of public goods Cournot-Nash equilibrium complements market entry

Find related papers by JEL classification:
C72 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Game Theory and Bargaining Theory - - - Noncooperative Games
L13 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Oligopoly and Other Imperfect Markets
L86 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Services - - - Information and Internet Services; Computer Software

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References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
  1. Gary S. Becker & Kevin M. Murphy, 1990. "A Simple Theory of Advertising as a Good," University of Chicago - George G. Stigler Center for Study of Economy and State 58, Chicago - Center for Study of Economy and State.
  2. Becker, Gary S & Murphy, Kevin M, 1993. "A Simple Theory of Advertising as a Good or Bad," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 108(4), pages 941-64, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  3. Lerner, Josh & Tirole, Jean, 2002. "Some Simple Economics of Open," Journal of Industrial Economics, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 50(2), pages 197-234, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  4. Justin Pappas Johnson, 2002. "Open Source Software: Private Provision of a Public Good," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 11(4), pages 637-662, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  5. James W. Friedman, 1983. "Advertising and Oligopolistic Equilibrium," Bell Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 14(2), pages 464-473, Autumn. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  6. Bergstrom, Theodore & Blume, Lawrence & Varian, Hal, 1986. "On the private provision of public goods," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 29(1), pages 25-49, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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