From: Ann Okerson <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Fri, 18 Jan 2013 16:35:38 -0500

Our thanks to Gary Price, InfoDocket, for this citation.

Discussion please?!!

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Posted to SSRN yesterday.

Working Paper Title:  Open Access Versus Traditional Journal Pricing:
Using a Simple 'Platform Market' Model to Understand Which Will Win
(and Which Should)

BY:

Mark J. McCabe
University of Michigan - School of Information

Christopher M. Snyder
Dartmouth College - Department of Economics

Anna Fagin
Dartmouth College - Department of Economics

Abstract

"Economists have built a theory to understand markets in which, rather
than selling directly to buyers, suppliers sell through a platform,
which controls prices on both sides. The theory has been applied to
understand markets ranging from telephony, to credit cards, to media.
In this paper, we apply the theory to the market for scholarly
journals, with the journal functioning as the platform between
submitting authors and subscribing readers. Our goal is to understand
the conditions under which a journal would prefer open access to
traditional pricing and under which open access would be better for
the scholarly community. Our new model captures much of the richness
of the existing economic literature on journal pricing, and indeed
adds some fresh insights, yet is simple enough to be accessible to a
broad audience."

Download Full Text
http://ssrn.com/abstract=2201773