SUBSCRIBE
SUBSCRIBE
EXPLORE +
  • About infoDOCKET
  • Academic Libraries on LJ
  • Research on LJ
  • News on LJ
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Libraries
    • Academic Libraries
    • Government Libraries
    • National Libraries
    • Public Libraries
  • Companies (Publishers/Vendors)
    • EBSCO
    • Elsevier
    • Ex Libris
    • Frontiers
    • Gale
    • PLOS
    • Scholastic
  • New Resources
    • Dashboards
    • Data Files
    • Digital Collections
    • Digital Preservation
    • Interactive Tools
    • Maps
    • Other
    • Podcasts
    • Productivity
  • New Research
    • Conference Presentations
    • Journal Articles
    • Lecture
    • New Issue
    • Reports
  • Topics
    • Archives & Special Collections
    • Associations & Organizations
    • Awards
    • Funding
    • Interviews
    • Jobs
    • Management & Leadership
    • News
    • Patrons & Users
    • Preservation
    • Profiles
    • Publishing
    • Roundup
    • Scholarly Communications
      • Open Access

March 23, 2011 by fulltextreports

Economic Research Wants to Be Free

March 23, 2011 by fulltextreports

Economic Research Wants to Be Free

Here’s a test of basic economic literacy: What is the socially optimal price of online access to economics journal articles?
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.
The Brookings Papers on Economic Activity – the journal that David Romer and I edit — has decided to take this piece of economic wisdom seriously. The Brookings Papers are now entirely open access. Yep, we’re charging zero; nada; nothing; zip.
Folks in the ivory tower have always had access to the archives through JSTOR, but now you’ll also have access to the most recent volumes. Going open access though is really about providing access to many of the folks who read this blog. Previously, congressional staffers, journalists, think-tankers, private-sector economists, or any variety of policy wonk — or even just folks for whom keeping up with economic debates is a passion, but not a profession — had limited access to academic research. Now, it’s online, and free.
And the archives – which are online here – are full of great stuff, much of which is incredibly relevant to today’s circumstances.  For instance, you can look up Jim Hamilton’s most recent piece on the macroeconomic effects of high oil prices; or, as the debate on No Child Left Behind is about to get hot, take a look at Tom Dee and Brian Jacob’s recent research. Or just browse any of the papers from our most recent conference.

Source:  Freakonomics blog

Filed under: Archives and Special Collections, Funding, Journal Articles, News, Open Access

SHARE:

Businessopen accessScholarly Publishing

About fulltextreports

ADVERTISEMENT

Archives

Job Zone

ADVERTISEMENT

Recent Articles on LJ

Tour de France: A Watching, Reading, and Listening Guide | Your Home Librarian

Prince George’s County Memorial Library System Targeted by Anti-LGBTQIA+ Vandalism

There Are No Lanes: Rural Libraries Do It ALL | Backtalk

Dartmouth Repatriates Samson Occom Papers to Mohegan Tribe

Proud Boys Disrupt Drag Queen Story Time at San Lorenzo Library

ADVERTISEMENT

Related Infodocket Posts

Educopia Partnering with Curtin University and OAPEN to Create a Community Governed OA Book Analytics Service for Publishers

From an Educopia Announcement: With more than AUD $1M in support from the Mellon Foundation, we at Educopia are excited to be working with collaborative partners at Curtin University  and ...

Just Released: U.S. Copyright Office Publishes Report on Copyright Protections For Press Publishers

From the U.S. Copyright Office: On June 30, 2022, the U.S. Copyright Office published a report titled Copyright Protections for Press Publishers. At the request of Senators Leahy, Tillis, Cornyn, ...

U.S. Census Releases 2021 Population Estimates: Nation Continues to Age as It Becomes More Diverse

From the U.S. Census: The last two decades have seen the country grow continuously older. Since 2000, the national median age – the point at which one-half the population is ...

Vision 2030: Library and Archives Canada Releases New Strategic Plan

From the LAC Website: Following two years of consultations, reflection and work, Library and Archives Canada (LAC) has unveiled its strategic plan, Vision 2030, defining the institution’s goals until 2030 ...

Journal Article: "The Financial Maintenance of Social Science Data Archives: Four Case Studies of Long-Term Infrastructure Work"

The article linked below was recently published by the Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology (JASIST). Title The Financial Maintenance of Social Science Data Archives: Four Case ...

Library Futures Releases Policy Statement and Draft eBook Legislative Language: Mitigating the Library eBook Conundrum Through Legislative Action...

From a Library Futures Post by Kyle Courtney and Juliya Ziskina: Library Futures is excited to announce that we are launching our policy statement on eBooks. Current eBook licensing practices ...

How Can Data Librarians Support Data Communities? An Interview with Jordan Wrigley

From the Ithaka S+R Interview by Dylan Ruediger and Ruby MacDougall: Data communities provide social and practical incentives for scientists to voluntarily share and reuse data with colleagues. In order ...

Roundup (June 30, 2022)

ALPSP Awards for Innovation in Publishing 2022: Shortlist Announced (via ALPSP) Library Publishing Coalition Welcomes University of Kansas  and University of Delaware as New Members (via LPC) NLM Responds to ...

ACLU: "It’s 2022 and Two Books Are on Trial for 'Obscenity'"

From the ACLU: …last month, a Virginia resident initiated obscenity proceedings against two acclaimed books: Gender Queer, a Memoir, by Maia Kobabe, an autobiographical graphic novel that depicts the author’s ...

U.S. Patent Research: USPTO Announces Patent Center to Fully Replace Legacy Public PAIR System This Summer

From the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office: Beginning August 1, 2022, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s (USPTO) Patent Center system—available to the public since 2017—will fully replace the legacy ...

Roundup (June 29, 2022)

CORE: Our Commitment to The Principles of Open Scholarly Infrastructure Elsevier’s Acquisition of Interfolio: Risks and Responses GPO to Discontinue Assigning Library of Congress Classification Numbers in Records for Hearings ...

Nat Geo Report: "The Great Hunt for the World's First LGBTQ Archive"

From National Geographic: In the early 1990s, a Canadian student named Adam Smith opened a dumpster in the basement of his apartment building in Vancouver, Canada, and discovered a stack ...

ADVERTISEMENT

FOLLOW INFODOCKET ON TWITTER

Tweets by @infodocket

ADVERTISEMENT

This coverage is free for all visitors. Your support makes this possible.

This coverage is free for all visitors. Your support makes this possible.

Primary Sidebar

  • News
  • Reviews+
  • Technology
  • Programs+
  • Design
  • Leadership
  • People
  • COVID-19
  • Advocacy
  • Opinion
  • INFOdocket
  • Job Zone

Reviews+

  • Booklists
  • Prepub Alert
  • Book Pulse
  • Media
  • Readers' Advisory
  • Self-Published Books
  • Review Submissions
  • Review for LJ

Awards

  • Library of the Year
  • Librarian of the Year
  • Movers & Shakers 2022
  • Paralibrarian of the Year
  • Best Small Library
  • Marketer of the Year
  • All Awards Guidelines
  • Community Impact Prize

Resources

  • LJ Index/Star Libraries
  • Research
  • White Papers / Case Studies

Events & PD

  • Online Courses
  • In-Person Events
  • Virtual Events
  • Webcasts
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Advertise
  • Subscribe
  • Media Inquiries
  • Newsletter Sign Up
  • Submit Features/News
  • Data Privacy
  • Terms of Use
  • Terms of Sale
  • FAQs
  • Careers at MSI


© 2022 Library Journal. All rights reserved.


© 2022 Library Journal. All rights reserved.