The economic characteristics of software and transaction costs explain, why closed source and open source software co … say, a first best realization of contracts is not feasible. Hence, open and closed source software are two second best …

There is considerable debate regarding the use of intellectual property rights (IPR) to spur innovation in the software … developing a growth optimal mixture of open source and closed source software. This optimal scenario is then used as a basis to … examine the co-existence of open and closed source software within various institutional frameworks ranging from no protection …

Software is a good with very special economic characteristics. Taking a general definition of software as its starting … and cost structure, the demand, the contestability of software-markets, and the allocative efficiency. In this context it … appears to be reasonable to subsume the various characteristics under the following generic terms: software as a means of data …

A review of the basic theory of optimal open-source software contributions points to three key factors affecting supply … large-scale software developer surveys are inadequate for measuring the relative importance of these three factors. Moreover …