Software is a potentially excludable public good. It is possible, at some cost, to exclude non-paying users from its consumption by using copyright law or technological restraints. Licensing the software under proprietary license terms makes of it a private good, licensing it under the BSD does...

The economics of information goods suggest the need for institutional intervention to address the problem of revenue extraction from investments in resources characterized by high fixed costs of production and low marginal costs of reproduction and distribution. Solutions to the appropriation...

We study item-pricing laws (which require that each item in a store be individually marked with a price sticker) and examine and quantify their costs and benefits. On the cost side, we argue that item-pricing laws increase the retailers’ costs, forcing them to raise prices. We test this...

Broadband access provides users with high speed, always-on connectivity to the Internet. Due to its superiority, broadband is seen as the way for consumers and firms to exploit the great potentials of new applications. This has generated a policy debate on how to stimulate adoption of broadband...

Bilginin iktisadi açýdan öneminin artmasý, konuyla ilgili olarak yapýlan akademik çalýþmalarýn çoðalmasýna ve ilgi görmesine neden olmaktadýr. Teorik ve ampirik çalýþmalarda bilginin elde edilmesi, yayýlmasý ve iktisadi geliþmeyi etkilemesi gibi konulara sýklýkla yer...

We use a Hotelling linear city model to study competition between open source and proprietary software, where only the producer of the proprietary software aims at maximizing the profit. The producer of the proprietary software must decide on compatibility. Different compatibility strategies...

RESUMO: Neste artigo é efectuada uma caracterização das transformações operadas no Sector da Banca em Portugal, mediante a aplicação de diferentes modelos de negócio, que contam com a incorporação de tecnologias de informação e comunicação. A Internet, enquanto canal de...

This paper follows two objectives: (i) It demonstrates the merits of the survey based approach to B2C eCommerce characteristics and company strategy, and (ii) it presents empirical evidence of the crucial importance of size and marketing investment in B2C eCommerce markets. It presents...

Broadband access provides users with high speed, always-on connectivity to the Internet. Due to its superiority, broadband is seen as the way for consumers and firms to exploit the great potentials of new applications. This has generated a policy debate on how to stimulate adoption of broadband...

There are many products which have little or no value in isolation, but if combined with other products or services, they generate more value. The utility that a given user derives from these products depends upon the number of other users who consume the same products. This kind of positive...