by Harold Feld,
Wetmachine: Harold Feld's Tales of the Sausage Factory
The intent of this article is to introduce people to a new economic theory of "collaborative good", developed by Mark Cooper, that substantiates the economics behind open source and frees us to consider economic prosperity beyond the traditional dichotomy of public vs. private goods.
The article opens with the understanding that the current and most dominant economic theories can not justify an open source economic model as sustainable. Theory goes that after repeated successes, the relatively small, collective effort will buckle under the weight of its own success. However, as we are finding out, open source is establishing itself as a sustainable economic model despite the lack of support it has received from scholarship, but it is not enough to say that we know better. We must encourage economic scholarship like Cooper's so that the government and philanthropic organizations might see open source work as a model worth investing in.
So, why has it taken so long for others to see the sustainability of open source work? Cooper explains that economists have been been stuck in the 20th century, reasoning in terms of neo-classical economics in which there are only two options: the public good and the private good. Both public and private models work for the initial period of growth, however, the private model is only seen as sustainable. Due to the amount of collaboration involved in open source development, economists have been relating the open source model to a public good. Therefore, the notion has been that after the initial thrill of working for the public good has faded, there is no monetary incentive to continue.
However, this theory of open source as comparable to a public good model, misses an important distinction-- the role of technology. With technology it is now possible to reduce the cost of transactions, "distribute the costs of production, and receive benefits from others" via collaboration. Thus, Cooper appropriately calls this new model, the "collaborative good." In order to maintain the collaborative model, Cooper suggests that private interests and exclusivity be discouraged in favor of enhancing inclusive and collaborative interests.
Feld concludes his "simple version" of Cooper's theory by calling us to appreciate the reality of the collaborative good, and to use this knowledge to nurture it instead of ignoring it in favor of dated economic theory.
For the complete explanation:
http://www.wetmachine.com/totsf/item/374