An Oldie but a Goodie

Back in 2009 for my undergrad Economics degree, I authored a Senior Thesis entitled “The Efficiency of Software Development Models: nProprietary vs. Free/Open Source.” n<p>I’ve since dug up the paper and gave it a re-read and reminiscing in my days of Econ and IT wonk, so in the spirit of Open Source, I’ve uploaded the paper to matt5lot10.</p> n<p>Here’s the abstract from the Thesis</p> n<p style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">The market for software is in many ways distinct from that of any other good due to software’s strong network effects, imperfect public-good nature, and complexity. As a result, the free market has two primary means of delivering software to consumers: the proprietary method, and the free/open source method. These two contrasting methods of software production may appear to be mutually exclusive, and many believe their coexistence to be unsustainable. This study investigates the theoretical and empirical literature regarding the rationale and motivation for, and welfare impacts and overall efficiency of, each software development model and how they interrelate. We can conclude from this study that these two models are in fact not mutually exclusive and in some cases complementary, provided certain market conditions are met. We can also conclude that the open source software development model is in fact consistent with economic theory and is thus a sustainable method of software production.</p>