PSI Pricing – Transaction costs
The Australian Government 2.0 Taskforce commissioned a number of projects to support the production of the Taskforce Final Report that was published on 22nd December 2009.
The Taskforce Project 6 that considered The value of public sector information for cultural institutions produced two reports:
Government 2.0 Taskforce Project 6: The value of public sector information for cultural institutions
The paper on page 3 states:
“In economic terms, the cost of getting information from providers to users may be separated into several parts. The first, declining rapidly is the marginal cost of transmitting and receiving existing information. The second, also declining rapidly is the cost to users of identifying and locating potentially useful information.
The third, and a central focus here, is the cost of the transaction in which information is transferred. This cost will depend crucially on whether information is provided freely (in both the libre and gratis senses) or subject to restrictions and requirements for payments.”
Government 2.0 Taskforce Project 6 – Additional Technical Paper: Transaction Costs and the Pricing of Public Sector Information
The additional technical paper states on page 2:
“The main contribution of this technical paper is to consider the implications for public sector information pricing of changes in the cost of information associated with the rise of Internet. Most importantly, while costs of distribution and access have declined markedly, the transaction costs of information services have remained high.
As the costs of disseminating and accessing information have declined, the transactions costs associated with charging for access to information, and controlling subsequent redistribution have come to constitute a major barrier to access in themselves. As a result, the case for free (gratis) provision of Public Sector Information is stronger than has already been recognised.”
The additional technical paper references to economic working paper: Pollock, R. (2009), ‘The Economics of Public Sector Information’, Cambridge Working Papers in Economics 0920, University of Cambridge.
Gov 2.0: Final report published
APIE participates in EC PSI Indicators Meeting
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