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Tuesday, March 22, 2011
“Economics research want to be free. Set it free!”
Justin Wolfers:
If my students learn only one thing, it’s this: Price equals marginal cost. And the marginal cost of accessing a journal article is pretty much zero. The research has been written, the type has been set, and the salaries have already been paid — usually thanks to a university, think tank, or government grant. So the socially optimal price is: free. Every time we charge a price higher than this, we risk pricing out someone who might benefit from the insights of an academic scribbler.
...
Here’s a challenge to my friends editing other economic journals, or who run working paper series which still charge (yes, NBER and CEPR, I’m thinking of you!): Take a close look at whether charging for access really generates much revenue. I’m willing to bet that you’ll soon figure out that the public interest is going to be a lot better served by joining us in moving to open access.
What about those that do get revenue? Well, why not follow SABR’s lead? Their old stuff is available for free (while the new ones are not yet available). What does this do? Well, it helps the public interest. Furthermore, all those articles are now google-able, making SABR more relevant to the online community. And with more hits to their site, more potential subscribers. Phil at SABR goes one step further and publishes even the timely SABR journal for free.
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