[Wikimedia-l] The value of Wikipedia for the economy

[Fred Bauder]

If the internet could be sold at auction giving the buyer an exclusive
permanent monopoly to license all internet activity what would it sell
for?

Fred

> The Economist had an estimate recently:
>
> http://www.economist.com/news/finance-and-economics/21573091-how-quantify-gains-internet-has-brought-consumers-net-benefits
> http://www.economist.com/blogs/freeexchange/2013/03/technology-2
>
> - of approximately $50m "value" to readers. It's a pretty vague
> estimate, but it's an interesting start.
>
> Andrew.
>
> On 8 April 2013 13:28, Lodewijk <lodewijk at effeietsanders.org> wrote:
>> Hi all,
>>
>> Last weekend we had a discussion about how to 'sell' the importance of
>> Wikipedia to economics-focused people (a.k.a. politicians etc), and the
>> question came up on how much Wikipedia contributes to the global
>> economy.
>> Many people access it daily, and the information they get from that
>> might
>> help them to run businesses, be more efficient etc. Third world
>> countries
>> (and maybe even the rest of the world) might have better educated
>> people
>> thanks to Wikipedia, which might make better and more efficient
>> workers,
>> higher literacy and cheaper university educations.
>>
>> Has there been any scientific (or other) research on the effect
>> Wikipedia
>> has (or had) on the world economy, or even the economy of a specific
>> country/region? There are some numbers what Wikipedia would be 'worth'
>> if
>> it were a commercial company, but that is not what I'm looking for.
>> What is
>> Wikipedia worth to society, the way it currently runs.
>>
>> Alternatively, are there similar studies to other knowledge
>> compendiums, or
>> even 'the internet'?
>>
>> Thanks for any pointers!
>>
>> Lodewijk
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>
>
>
> --
> - Andrew Gray
>   andrew.gray at dunelm.org.uk
>
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