Open Access as a Crude Solution to a Hold‐Up Problem in the Two‐Sided Market for Academic Journals

Mark Mccabe () and Christopher Snyder
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Mark Mccabe: SKEMA Business School - SKEMA Business School, GREDEG - Groupe de Recherche en Droit, Economie et Gestion - UNS - Université Nice Sophia Antipolis (1965 - 2019) - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - UniCA - Université Côte d'Azur

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Abstract: We analyze a model in which journals cannot commit to subscription fees when authors (who prefer low subscription fees because this boosts readership) make submission decisions. A holdup problem arises, manifested as excessive subscription fees. Open access is a crude attempt to avoid hold up by eliminating subscription fees. We assess the profitability and efficiency of traditional relative to open-access journals in a monopoly model (with extensions to nonprofit, bundled, hybrid, and competing journals). We apply the theory to understand the evolving market for academic journals in the Internet age and policies currently being debated such as an open-access mandate.

Date: 2018
Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://shs.hal.science/halshs-01948335
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Published in Journal of Industrial Economics, 2018, 66 (2), pp.301-349. ⟨10.1111/joie.12167⟩

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Related works:
Journal Article: Open Access as a Crude Solution to a Hold‐Up Problem in the Two‐Sided Market for Academic Journals (2018)
Working Paper: Open Access as a Crude Solution to a Hold-Up Problem in the Two-Sided Market for Academic Journals (2018)
Working Paper: Open Access as a Crude Solution to a Hold-up Problem in the Two-Sided Market for Academic Journals (2016)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:journl:halshs-01948335

DOI: 10.1111/joie.12167

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