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

[Anders Wennersten]

In preparation of the strategic planning a few years ago, we at the Audi 
committee made some calculation to estimate the theoretical potential of 
donation from different perspectives, like what other NGO got.

We then come to the standpoint that the potential was several times that 
of 2009-2010 donations. We have now already doubled that amount, and 
perhaps we are getting closer to the theoretical potential, but this 
gives the estimate of a potential donation of something between 50-200 
MUSD. And the benefit must surely be a few times of the potential 
donations, So a rough estimate of benefit based on this reasoning would 
be in the magnitude of 100-500 MUSD/year
Anders


Andrew Gray skrev 2013-04-08 14:36:
> 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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>
>