Why open source software can succeed

The paper discusses three key economic problems raised by the emergence and diffusion of Open source software: motivation, coordination, and diffusion under a dominant standard. First, the movement took off through the activity of a software development community that deliberately did not follow profit motivations. Second, a hierarchical coordination emerged without the support of an organization with proprietary rights. Third, Linux and other open source systems diffused in an environment dominated by established proprietary standards, which benefited from significant increasing returns. The paper shows that recent developments in the theory of critical mass in the diffusion of technologies with network externality may help to explain these phenomena.Open Source, Diffusion, Network Externality.

The contribution of verbal working memory to deaf children's oral and written production

open3noopenArfé, Barbara; Rossi, Cristina; Sicoli, SilviaArfe', Barbara; Rossi, Cristina; Sicoli, Silvi

Knowledge, Spillovers and Firms’ International Growth. An Analysis at the Italian NUTS 3 Level

In the framework of analyses on the relationship between geography and technological innovation, the role of universities has received considerable attention. Both theoretical and empirical literature has shown that university research positively influences the capacity for innovation of the surrounding firms (Jaffe, 1989; Feldman, 1994; Acs et al, 2002). Universities play a central role in innovation processes both as the main responsible for basic research and also as forgers of human capital’s skills. Empirical work has highlighted that such effects radiate from major university centres crossing borders and administrative boundaries (Anselin et al., 1997). This paper focuses on the relationship between universities and the innovative capacity at the territorial level. Specifically, our empirical analysis investigates whether university research spillovers are highly localised or they rather flow across borders. Empirical literature has widely investigated intensity and directions of such spillovers, mainly within the theoretical framework of Griliches-Jaffe. However, we extend the empirical evidence exploring whether intensity and directions of spillovers depend on universities’ specificities (e.g. size, fields of specialization, fund rising capacity) and on the local absorptive capacity. The analysis is developed at the Italian NUTS3 level, using an explicit spatial econometric approach applied to a knowledge production function. References Acs, Z., Anselin, L., and Varga, A. (2002): “Patents and innovation counts as measures of regional production of new knowledgeâ€, Research Policy 31, pp. 1069-1085. Anselin, L., Varga, A., and Acs, Z. (1997): “Local geographic spillovers between University research and high technology innovationsâ€, Journal of Urban Economics 42, pp. 422-448. Feldman, M. (1994): The Geography of innovation, Kluwer Academic Publishers. Dordrecht. Jaffe, A. (1989): “Real effects of academic researchâ€, The American Economic Review, vol 79, n. 5, pp. 957-970.

EXPLAINING THE TERRITORIAL ADOPTION OF NEW TECHNOLOGIES - A SPATIAL ECONOMETRIC APPROACH

The notion that Information and Communication Technology would have reduced the economic importance of geographic distance has been proposed with energy in the post-Internet literature (Cairncross, 2001). According to this view, the New Economy would work in a space rather than a place, cost of transport would be drastically reduced, distance would be less important, and peripheral regions would benefit from opportunities that were not available in the economy based on manufacturing industry (Negroponte, 1995; Cairncross, 1997; Kelly, 1998; Compaine, 2001). Since ICT are mostly based on immaterial and human capital investment, regions or areas that have historically suffered from isolation, large cost of transportation, or lack of physical private and public infrastructure might find new paths for growth. Consequently, according to this view, the concentration of income opportunities and wealth should decrease over time. Although other predictions were also present in the debate over the impact of the digital economy (e.g. Norris, 2001; UNDP; 2001), this view was largely dominant. The reality is not so rosy. Not only there are huge disparities in the intensity with which ICT are adopted and used across countries, but also there are still large differences within industrialized countries. Indeed, differences in economic development still shape the rate of the adoption of these technologies, at the firm, regional and country level. The reasons behind these stylized facts have been investigated at length in recent times. This paper contributes to the literature in several ways. First, it focuses on intra-national or regional differences, which is a much less explored dimension of the digital divide. Second, it uses a new metric for the adoption of ICT, namely the number of second level Internet domain names, registered under the ccTLD “.it.”. Finally, it explicitly combines the analysis of determinants with a spatial econometric approach. Thanks to the availability of panel data for both the dependent and the explanatory variables (time period: 1990-2001), spatial and temporal effect are simultaneously taken into account. Panel data techniques that account for temporal correlations are in widespread use while there have been a variety of studies accounting for spatial autocorrelation (see for instance Coughlin et al. 2003; Dubin, 1992; McMillan, 2004). However one of the major drawbacks to many analyses is that they fail to integrate the spatial and temporal correlations that are present in geographical systems (Elhorst, 2003).

On the determinants of the degree of openness of Open Source firms: An entry model

This paper examines the relationship between the degree of openness that software start-ups choose and some of the main industrial features faced by new entrants. Hypotheses derived from a formal model are tested through the implementation of econometric techniques and information provided by a novel database (ELISS). Theoretical predictions and empirical results indicate that the choice by start-ups of the degree of openness is negatively influenced by the sensitivity of consumers to price and is positively related both to the strength of network externalities their products exhibit and to the competitive advantage of the incumbent.open-source software; network effects; entry

Is Open Source about innovation? How interactions with the Open Source community impact on the innovative performances of entrepreneurial ventures

Practitioners generally assert that collaboration with the Open Source software (OSS) community enables young software firms to achieve superior innovation performance. Nonetheless, to the best of our knowledge, scholars have never extensively speculated about this assertion or rigorously tested it. In this paper, we attempt to do so. First, we root on the entrepreneurship literature and on the OSS research stream to discuss and empirically investigate whether entrepreneurial ventures collaborating with the OSS community (OSS EVs) achieve innovation performance superior to that of their non-collaborating peers. Then, we refer to the concept of absorptive capacity to determine which factors make OSS EVs better able to leverage their collaboration with the OSS community for innovation purposes. Our econometric estimates use a sample of 230 firms and indicate that OSS EVs collaborating with the OSS community achieve superior innovation. At the same time, the impact of community collaborations on innovation is stronger for EVs that are endowed with more skilled human capital, have experience with firm- OSS community collaboration, and actively contribute to the community.Entrepreneurial ventures, Open Source, firm-community collaboration, innovation performance

Changes during Cooking Processes in 6 Varieties of Andean Potatoes (Solanum tuberosum ssp. Andinum)

The value of the native potato varieties grown in Argentinean northwest lies both in their fundamental role as a source of food for the population and in their potential for the development of new products. The aim of this work was to study the changes produced by two common cooking processes (boiling and frying) on the nutritional, textural and functional characteristics of five Andean potatoes varieties. The cooking process (boiling) does not significantly affect the composition of potatoes, but there are losses of vitamin C; a greater loss was observed when they were boiled shelled. In frying potatoes vitamin C is completely destroyed. Resistant starch values between 0.90 and 4.58 g/100g of potato were found for raw Andean varieties; they decreased during the cooking process (boiled) (0.15 to 0.54 g/100g of potato) and increased again to be stored for 48 h at 4°C (0.73 - 1.88 g/100g of potato). The frying process produced an increment in energy value between 92% and 148% according to variety. Regarding to the fracture strength and hardness, no significant differences were observed between the Andean varieties and the control (Spunta) at the initial or final stages, but there were differences during the intermediate stages.Fil: Jimenez, María Eugenia. Universidad Nacional de Tucumán. Facultad de Bioquímica, Química y Farmacia. Instituto de Química Biológica; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Tucumán. Instituto Superior de Investigaciones Biológicas. Universidad Nacional de Tucumán. Instituto Superior de Investigaciones Biológicas; ArgentinaFil: Rossi, Analia Mabel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Tucumán. Instituto Superior de Investigaciones Biológicas. Universidad Nacional de Tucumán. Instituto Superior de Investigaciones Biológicas; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Tucumán. Facultad de Bioquímica, Química y Farmacia. Instituto de Química Biológica; ArgentinaFil: Samman, Norma Cristina. Universidad Nacional de Tucumán. Facultad de Bioquímica, Química y Farmacia. Instituto de Química Biológica; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Tucumán. Instituto Superior de Investigaciones Biológicas. Universidad Nacional de Tucumán. Instituto Superior de Investigaciones Biológicas; Argentin

Measuring and modelling Internet diffusion using second level domains: the case of Italy

The last 10 years witnessed an exponential growth of the Internet. According to Hobbes' Internet Timeline, the Internet hosts are about 93 million, while in 1989 they were 100,000. The same happens for second level domain names. In July 1989 the registered domains were about 3,900 while they were over 2 million in July 2000. This paper reports about the construction of a database containing daily observations on registrations of second level domain names underneath the it ccTLD in order to analyse the diffusion of Internet among families and businesses. The section of the database referring to domains registered by individuals is analysed. The penetration rate over the relevant population of potential adopters is computed at highly disaggregated geographical level (province). A concentration analysis is carried out to investigate whether the geographical distribution of Internet is less concentrated than population and income suggesting a diffusive effect. Regression analysis is carried out using demographic, social, economic and infrastructure indicators. Finally we briefly describe the further developments of our research. At the present we are constructing a database containing domains registered by firms together with data about the registrants; the idea is to use this new database and the previous one in order to check for the existence of power laws both in the number of domains registered in each province and in the number of domains registered by each firm.Domain names, Internet metrics, Diffusion, Power laws, Zipf s law