Peer-to-peer file sharing communities [An article from: Information Economics and Policy]

This digital document is a journal article from Information Economics and Policy, published by Elsevier in 2004. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Media Library immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Description:
Peer-to-peer file sharing communities present a paradox for standard public goods theory, which predicts that free-riding should preclude the success of the community. We present a model in which users choose their level of sharing, downloading, and listening in the presence of sharing costs and endogenous downloading costs. In our model, sharing emerges endogenously, largely as a byproduct of users' attempts to reduce own-costs.