On the Dynamics of Competition between Commercial and Free Software

Thomas Christiaans

Studies in Microeconomics, 2013, vol. 1, issue 1, 37-58

Abstract: This article introduces dynamic network externalities into a Hotelling-like model of competition between commercial and free software. The assumption of linear network effects enables a full-fledged dynamic analysis taking boundary solutions into account. The extent of network effects related to the separation rate and consumers’ learning costs determines whether both types of software can coexist in the long run and whether a lock-in region emerges. Governmental promotion of free software increases welfare if network externalities are sufficiently large.

Keywords: Software market; Hotelling model; network externalities; lock-in (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/2321022213488846 (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:miceco:v:1:y:2013:i:1:p:37-58

DOI: 10.1177/2321022213488846

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Studies in Microeconomics
Bibliographic data for series maintained by SAGE Publications ().