- Anti-rival goods
The term anti-rival goods is a neologism, coined by Steven Weber to describe goods created by a process of reciprocal exchange for mutual benefit, such as
free software andopen source software .An anti-rival good meets the test of a
public good because it is non-excludable (freely available to all) and non-rival (consumption by one person does not reduce the amount available for others). However it has the additional quality of being created by private individuals for common benefit without being motivated by purealtruism , because the individual contributor also receives benefits from the contributions of others. In evolutionary biology, this mode of production and exchange is calledreciprocal altruism .An example is provided by
Lawrence Lessig :The production of anti-rival goods appears to benefit from the
network effect . Leung (2006) offers this quote from Weber (2004):Although the term "anti-rival good" is a neologism, this category of goods may be neither new nor specific to the
Internet era. According to Lessig, a particularnatural language also meets the criteria:The term also invokes
Reciprocity (cultural anthropology) and the concept of agift economy . See alsoPrivate good andGood (economics and accounting) .References and further reading
*cite web | author=Lessig, L | title=Do You Floss? | work=London Review of Books | url=http://www.lrb.co.uk/v27/n16/less01_.html | accessdate=November 14 | accessyear=2006
*cite web | author=Leung, T | title= (Review) The Success of Open Source | work=Sauria Associates | url=http://www.sauria.com/blog/2006/06/04 | accessdate=November 15 | accessyear=2006
*Harvard reference | Surname1=von Hippel | Given1=E. | Title=Democratizing Innovation | Publisher=The MIT Press | Year=2005 | ID=ISBN 978-0-262-00274-5.
*Harvard reference | Surname1=Weber| Given1=S. | Title=The Success of Open Source | Publisher=Harvard University Press | Year=2004 | ID=ISBN 978-0-674-01292-9.
*Federalist Blog: [http://federalist.wordpress.com/2006/07/30/is-technology-a-public-good/ Is Technology a Public Good?]
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