<nettime> Cooking Pot Markets (summary)

[Rishab Aiyer Ghosh <rishab@dxm.org>]

hi,

>If you agree, could you send nettime a ascii version?

i'd prefer it if you could just put the URL, 
http://dxm.org/tcok/cookingpot/
along with the abstract and table of contents. because it's
a draft, i keep making changes to the text, and the web site
has the latest released version - and links to references of
course.

in case you think this is not enough, and that some
of your readers may not have access to the web, i
can send you an ascii version of the full (51 kb) text.

best,
rishab

COOKING POT MARKETS: AN ECONOMIC MODEL FOR
THE TRADE IN FREE GOODS AND SERVICES ON THE INTERNET

Draft manuscript.
Copyright (C) 1996, 1997, 1998 Rishab Aiyer Ghosh (rishab@dxm.org)
All rights reserved.

http://dxm.org/tcok/cookingpot/

Abstract

It has long been assumed that there is something beyond 
economics involved in the proliferation of free goods and 
services on the Internet. Although Netscape's recent move 
to give away the source code for its browser shows that the 
corporate world now believes that it is possible to make 
money with free software - previously eyed with cautious 
pessimism - money is not the prime motivator of most 
producers of the Internet's free goods, and neither is 
altruism. Efforts and rewards may be valued in intangibles, 
but, as this paper argues, there is a very tangible market 
dynamics to the free economy of the Internet, and rational 
economic decisions are at work. This is the "cooking-pot" 
market: an implicit barter economy with assymetric 
transactions. 


WHAT IS VALUE, OR: IS THE INTERNET REALLY AN ECONOMY? 
THE ECONOMICS OF GOSSIP 
SOMETHING FOR NOTHING? 
TWO SIDES TO A TRADE 
CAN YOU EAT GOODWILL? 
IS REPUTATION A CONVERTIBLE CURRENCY? 
COOKING-POT MARKETS 
A CALCULUS OF REPUTATION 
CONCLUSION 



First Monday - The Peer-Reviewed Journal on the Internet 
http://www.firstmonday.dk/  Munksgaard International Publishers, Copenhagen
          
Intl & Managing Editor - Rishab Aiyer Ghosh (ghosh@firstmonday.dk) 
Mobile +91 98110 14574; Fax +91 11 2209608; Tel +91 11 2454717 
A4/204 Ekta Apts., 9 Indraprastha Extn, New Delhi 110092 INDIA



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