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http://hdl.handle.net/10419/25729
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| Title: | | The economic properties of software  |
| Authors: | | von Engelhardt, Sebastian |
| Issue Date: | | 2008 |
| Series/Report no.: | | Jena economic research papers 2008,045 |
| Abstract: | | Software is a good with very special economic characteristics. Taking a general definition of software as its starting-point, this article systematically elaborates the central qualities of the commodity which have implications for its production 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-processing, software as a system of commands or instructions, software as a recombinant system, software as a good which can only be used in discrete units, software as a complex system, and software as an intangible good. Evidently, software is characterized by a considerable number of economically relevant qualitiesranging from network effects to a subadditive cost function to nonrivalry. Particularly to emphasise is the fact that software fundamentally differs from other information goods: First, from a consumer’s perspective the readability and other aspects concerning how the information is presented, is irrelevant. Second, the average consumer/user is interested only in the funtionality of the algorithms but not in the underlying information. |
| Subjects: | | Digital goods compatibility information good network effects nonrivalry open source recombinability software |
| JEL: | | D82 D83 D62 D85 K11 |
| Document Type: | | Working Paper |
| Appears in Collections: | | Jena Economic Research Papers, MPI für Ökonomik
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