Curriculum The Economics of Free

The Economics of Free

How free things pay for themselves: nothing is really free, freemium, advertising-funded services, network effects, loss leaders and bundles, the psychology of zero, data as the price, public goods, open source, being a smart consumer, and a recap.

Nothing Is Really Free When a product costs nothing to use, someone pays: advertisers, other customers, investors or you, through data and attention. 📄 Read-aloud
The Freemium Model Freemium gives away a basic version free and charges for advanced features, converting a small share of users into paying customers. 📄 Read-aloud
Advertising-Funded Free Services Search engines, social media and news apps offer free access because advertisers pay to reach users. 📄 Read-aloud
Network Effects and Free Growth Free access can build large user bases, and once many people use a service, it becomes more valuable to each of them. 📄 Read-aloud
Loss Leaders and Bundles Shops sell some products at or below cost to attract customers who then buy other, profitable goods. 📄 Read-aloud
The Psychology of Zero A price of zero is treated differently from a tiny positive price, and firms exploit this pull. 📄 Read-aloud
The Economics of Free: Checkpoint 1 Quick checkpoint - five questions on the economics of free. 5 questions
Your Data as the Price Many free services collect personal data, which is used for advertising or sold in aggregated forms, raising privacy concerns. 📄 Read-aloud
Public Goods and Free Provision Governments provide some things free, like roads and vaccination, because markets under-supply goods that benefit everyone. 📄 Read-aloud
Open Source and Free Knowledge Wikipedia, Linux and open research are given freely, funded by donations, volunteers, companies and public money. 📄 Read-aloud
Being a Smart Consumer of Free Ask who pays, what data you give, whether the free tier is enough, and whether paying would improve the deal. 📄 Read-aloud
Free and Freemium: Recap A recap of how free products make money. 📄 Read-aloud