Open source software production is a succesful new innovation model in which a public good is voluntarily provided. We argue that by studying this new innovation model we gain valuable insigth for innovation theory beyond software production.

People behave pro-socially in a wide variety of situations that standard economic theory is unable to explain. Social comparison is one explanation for such pro-social behavior: people contributeif others contribute or cooperate as well....

Empirical evidence is provided for the importance of non-reciprocal pro-social behavior of individuals in an anonymous, n-person pure public good setting. A unique panel data set of 136,000 observations is matched with an extensive survey....

Consider a setting in which several groups of individuals with common interests ("clubs")compete with each other for recognition by other individuals. Depending on the context,recognition may be expressed by these other individuals joining a club, or choosing one clubto admire. Clubs compete by...

Das dramatische Ausmaß der Tsunami-Katastrophe in Südasien hat die Menschen auf der ganzen Welt erschüttert. Vor Ort sind die Lebensgrundlagen zahlreicher Regionen, Städte und Dörfer zerstört. Eine unvorstellbare Zahl von Menschen hat in den Krisenregionen ihr Leben verloren. Es handelt...

Gemeinnützigkeit steht umgangssprachlich für freiwilliges gemeinwohlorientiertes undnicht auf materiellen Gewinn ausgerichtetes bürgerschaftliches Engagement. Die Bedeutungeines solchen Engagements wurde von der Enquete-Kommission „Zukunft desBürgerschaftlichen Engagements“ im Auftrag...

The ability to cooperate in collective action problems — such as those relating to the useof common property resources or the provision of local public goods — is a key determinant ofeconomic performance. In this paper we discuss two aspects of collective action problemsin developing...

Over the last decades, empirical research on subjective well-being in the socialsciences has provided a major new stimulus to the discourse on individual happiness.Recently this research has also been linked to economics where reported subjective wellbeingis often taken as a proxy measure for...

This paper analyzes the role of public and private responsibility in the provision of publicgoods. We emphasize that a typical public good will require many different inputs whichraises the possibility of partnerships to exploit comparative advantages of different parties.But hold-up problems...

This paper explores the feasibility and desirability of CorporateSocial Responsibility (CSR). We identify CSR with creation of publicgoods or curtailment of public bads. Using a model with pro…t-maximizing …firms, the paper shows that there is a direct parallel be-tween CSR and traditional...