Decoding the "Free/Open Source(F/OSS) Software Puzzle" a survey of theoretical and empirical contributions

F/OSS software has been described by many as a puzzle. In the past five years, it has stimulated the curiosity of scholars in a variety of fields, including economics, law, psychology, anthropology and computer science, so that the number of contributions on the subject has increased exponentially. The purpose of this paper is to provide a sufficiently comprehensive account of these contributions in order to draw some general conclusions on the state of our understanding of the phenomenon and identify directions for future research. The exercise suggests that what is puzzling about F/OSS is not so much the fact that people freely contribute to a good they make available to all, but rather the complexity of its institutional structure and its ability to organizationally evolve over time.F/OSS software, Innovation, Incentives, Governance, Intellectual Property Rights

Access to Audio-visual Contents, Exclusivity and Anticommons in New Media Markets

Media markets are characterized by strong peculiarities that often call for longterm exclusivity contracts between content providers and distributors or for vertical or horizontal integration. This paper analyzes and compares the economic effects of existing alternative systems of access to valuable content for new media platforms, under the lens of technological convergence and 'network neutrality'. The analysis suggests the increasing need for a coordinated regulatory framework aimed at balancing costs and benefits of the different models in order to ensure that the development of new markets and new technologies in the age of media convergence is not hindered by "anticommons" tragedies.contents, new media, anticommons, antitrust.

Copyright vs. Copyleft Licencing and Software Development

This article aims at clarifying the role played by licenses within the increasingly relevant Open Source Software (OSS) phenomenon. In particular, the article explores from a theoretical point of view the comparative properties of the two main categories of OSS license--copyleft and non-copyleft licenses--in terms of their ability to stimulate innovation and coordination of development efforts. In order to do so, the paper relies on an incomplete contracting model. The model shows that, in spite of the fact that copyleft licenses entail the enjoyment of a narrower set of rights by both licensors and licensees, they may be preferred to non-copyleft licenses when coordination of complementary investments in development is important. It thus provides a non-ideologically-based explanation for the puzzling evidence showing the dominance, in terms of diffusion, of copyleft licenses.intellectual property rights, open source, copyright, copyleft, GPL license, incentives to innovation.

Property rights in the knowledge economy: an explanation of the crisis

Some of the roots underlying the recent crisis may be found in the global convergence towards a model characterized by strong property rights and an extremely limited role attributed to "open science". The modern economy has increasingly moved from an open science - open markets model toward a closed science - closed markets model. Paradoxically, while a non-rival resource like knowledge becomes the most relevant input, small firms and new entrants find it increasingly difficult to be competitive with large and well established organizations. Such a model is progressively increasing the costs of investment in new knowledge, with important negative consequences in terms of overall performance of the economy. We argue that in the knowledge economy, overcoming inequality and the economic crisis can be part of a single coherent policy. If some essential knowledge is moved from the private to the public sphere, this is has not only desirable inequality-decreasing consequences but can also contribute to re-launching the economy, creating the conditions for a sustained development. In a knowledge economy, a super-multiplier could couple the traditional effects of Keynesian spending in time of crisis with the multiplying virtues human knowledge, moved from the private to the public sphere.

Contracts and Motivations. The Case of Open Source

The literature on Open Source phenomenon has revealed the crucial role played by both intrinsic and extrinsic motivations. However an analysis attempting to formally explore this interplay is still missing. In this paper, we try to fill the gap by introducing intrinsic motivations in standard principal-agent model, focusing on the case of Open Source Software (OSS). We show that, if developers’ intrinsic motivation is sufficiently high, paying developers to work on OSS projects allows the firm to induce a desired level of workers’ effort at a lower cost compared to the standard case of monetary incentives and sanctions coupled with costly monitoring.extrinsic and intrisic motivations, agency contracts, open-source software, open-source software developers

The Nature, Timing and Impact of Broadband Policies: a Panel Analysis of 30 OECD Countries

We empirically investigate the impact of a vast array of public policies on wireline broadband penetration through a novel and unique dataset covering 30 OECD countries, over 1995-2010. We find that while both supply and demand-side policies have a positive effect on broadband penetration, their relative impact depends on the actual stage of broadband diffusion. When an advanced stage is reached, only demand-side policies appear to generate a positive and increasing effect. Moreover, both technological and market competition play a positive role, and the effect of the latter shows a non-linear path along the stage of market development. Finally, the relative weight of the service sector in the national economy reveals to be crucial for broadband penetration. Our analysis provides new insights into the policy debate and in particular on the rationale of a selective policy design for broadband penetration and, in perspective, for the rollout of next-generation networks.telecommunications policies, broadband penetration, infrastructure investments

IP Law and Antitrust Law Complementarity when Property Rights are Incomplete

This paper explores the interface between two important institutional pillars of market exchange – Intellectual Property (IP) law and Antitrust law – in light of a theory of property rights incompleteness. This theory interprets property as an incomplete bundle of both defined and undefined rights over actual and potential uses of given resources and defines externalities as joint claims over rival production uses of undefined entitlements, irrespective of whether the object of property rights has a tangible or intangible nature. The paper argues that traditional distinctions between physical property and IP based on attributes of tangibility, rivalry and excludability are misleading and bases on the substantial homogeneity of property rights and IPRs an argument supporting the complementarity between IP law and Antitrust law. Far from being an unjustified ex-post limitation to existing property rights, likely to undermine ex-ante incentives, Antitrust intervention represents one of the means by which incompletely specified property rights (both intellectual and tangible) might be redefined over time as externalities emerge.

Patent Disclosure and R&D Competition in Pharmaceuticals.

The prominent role played by patents within the pharmaceutical domain is unquestionable. In this paper we take an unusual perspective and focus on a relatively neglected implication of patents: the effect of patent-induced information disclosure (of both successes and failures) on the dynamics of R&D and market competition. The study builds upon the combination of two large datasets, linking the information about patents to firm level data on R&D projects and their outcome. Two case studies in the fields of anti-inflammatory compounds and cancer research complement our analysis. We show the important role played by patent disclosure in shaping firms technological trajectories through the possibility of reciprocal monitoring in a context of parallel research efforts, and suggest the importance of enhancing the diffusion of information concerning failures, not only to avoid wasteful duplication of innovative efforts, but also as a tool for the identification of promising research trajectories. This paper is the result of the "R&D competition" research project carried out jointly with Adrian Towse and Martina Garau of the Office of Health Economics, London, UK. A preliminary draft of the paper has been presented to the DRUID Summer Conference 2006 (Copenhagen), and to the 11th ISS Conference (Sophia-Antipolis).

Patent Disclosure and R&D Competition in Pharmaceuticals.

The prominent role played by patents within the pharmaceutical domain is unquestionable. In this paper we take an unusual perspective and focus on a relatively neglected implication of patents: the effect of patent-induced information disclosure (of both successes and failures) on the dynamics of R&D and market competition. The study builds upon the combination of two large datasets, linking the information about patents to firm level data on R&D projects and their outcome. Two case studies in the fields of anti-inflammatory compounds and cancer research complement our analysis. We show the important role played by patent disclosure in shaping firms technological trajectories through the possibility of reciprocal monitoring in a context of parallel research efforts, and suggest the importance of enhancing the diffusion of information concerning failures, not only to avoid wasteful duplication of innovative efforts, but also as a tool for the identification of promising research trajectories. This paper is the result of the "R&D competition" research project carried out jointly with Adrian Towse and Martina Garau of the Office of Health Economics, London, UK. A preliminary draft of the paper has been presented to the DRUID Summer Conference 2006 (Copenhagen), and to the 11th ISS Conference (Sophia-Antipolis).patent disclosure; innovation; r&d competition