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Open Source Software: Competition with A Public Good

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  • Vidya Atal
  • Kameshwari Shankar

Abstract

This paper looks at price and quality competition in software markets under two different forms of competition—one where two proprietary firms first choose quality and then engage in price competition, and second where a proprietary firm faces competition from an open source software (OSS) firm that allows its users to determine quality level and provides the software at zero price. We find that OSS competition never improves quality for consumers who value quality highly. However, it may provide greater quality to users with a low valuation for quality. In addition, we find that although OSS has a zero market price, the public good nature of OSS competition can lessen price competition, making the proprietary firm better-off with increased profit but leaving consumers worse-off with lower surplus. Copyright International Atlantic Economic Society 2014

Suggested Citation

  • Vidya Atal & Kameshwari Shankar, 2014. "Open Source Software: Competition with A Public Good," Atlantic Economic Journal, Springer;International Atlantic Economic Society, vol. 42(3), pages 333-345, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:atlecj:v:42:y:2014:i:3:p:333-345
    DOI: 10.1007/s11293-014-9426-2
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Josh Lerner & Jean Tirole, 2002. "Some Simple Economics of Open Source," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 50(2), pages 197-234, June.
    2. Justin Pappas Johnson, 2002. "Open Source Software: Private Provision of a Public Good," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 11(4), pages 637-662, December.
    3. Mustonen, Mikko, 2003. "Copyleft--the economics of Linux and other open source software," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 15(1), pages 99-121, March.
    4. Ramon Casadesus-Masanell & Pankaj Ghemawat, 2006. "Dynamic Mixed Duopoly: A Model Motivated by Linux vs. Windows," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 52(7), pages 1072-1084, July.
    5. Susan Athey & Glenn Ellison, 2014. "Dynamics of Open Source Movements," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 23(2), pages 294-316, June.
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Murat Yılmaz, 2022. "Coexistence of proprietary and open‐source firms under product differentiation," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 43(8), pages 4153-4166, December.
    2. Atal Vidya & Shankar Kameshwari, 2015. "Developers’ Incentives and Open-Source Software Licensing: GPL vs BSD," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 15(3), pages 1381-1416, July.
    3. Chung‐Hui Chou, 2021. "Could coexistence of open‐source and proprietary platforms be an equilibrium outcome?," Manchester School, University of Manchester, vol. 89(3), pages 297-309, June.
    4. Jeongmeen Suh & Murat Yılmaz, 2019. "Economics of Open Source Technology: A Dynamic Approach," Dynamic Games and Applications, Springer, vol. 9(1), pages 254-280, March.
    5. Chung‐Hui Chou, 2023. "Does possessing an installed base induce a proprietary software producer to act aggressively or mildly in pricing and intrinsic quality provision?," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 70(2), pages 133-143, May.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Open source software; Duopoly; Price competition; Vertical differentiation; L17; D4; L11;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • L17 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Open Source Products and Markets
    • D4 - Microeconomics - - Market Structure, Pricing, and Design
    • L11 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Production, Pricing, and Market Structure; Size Distribution of Firms

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