Open Government Data in Digital Markets : Effects on Innovation, Competition and Societal Benefits

Prompted by recent open data policies, public sector information is increasingly published for commercial re-use. Such open government data is especially motivated by three policy goals: innovation, competition and societal benefits. However, analyses of how open government data affects re-users' economic incentives and shape market outcomes in the digital economy are scarce. Therefore, this paper presents a conceptual analysis of the economic effects of open government data and characterizes conditions under which the intended primary policy goals can be achieved. The findings highlight a basic trade-off between innovation and competition goals and demonstrate that the effectiveness of open government data crucially depends on the specific public sector information contained in a data set. By distinguishing different information domains, policy recommendations are derived on which open government data sets can promote a desired policy goal and on how the involved economic trade-offs can be navigated by targeted open data policies