For a concrete quantitative estimate of the economic benefit (technically, consumer surplus <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economic_surplus>), albeit outdated, probably too low, and not peer-reviewed, see https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Research:Newsletter/2013/March#Estimate_for_economic_benefit_of_Wikipedia:_.2450_million_by_2006_already (The Economist cited the aforementioned Shane Greenstein, who "thinks Wikipedia accounted for up to $50m of that surplus" as of 2006 - in other words, Wikipedia provides a good that otherwise people would be willing to buy, spending $50m on it that instead they get to spend on something else.)
Tangentially, the methodology of this research is also interesting, as it tried to put price tags on the benefit provided by a small, specific slice of Wikipedia content (images of bestseller authors on enwiki): https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Research:Newsletter/2015/April#Excessive_copyright_terms_proven_to_be_a_cost_for_society.2C_via_English_Wikipedia_images On Tue, Jan 24, 2017 at 2:19 PM, Aaron Halfaker <[email protected]> wrote: > Wikipedia has probably had some substantial external impacts. Are there > any studies quantifying them? Maybe increased scientific literacy? Or > maybe GDP rises with access to Wikipedia? > > Are there any studies that have explored how Wikipedia has affected > economic or social issues? > > I'm looking for any references you've got. > > -Aaron > > _______________________________________________ > Wiki-research-l mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wiki-research-l > > -- Tilman Bayer Senior Analyst Wikimedia Foundation IRC (Freenode): HaeB
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