Author Chris Anderson makes the compelling case that in many instances, businesses can profit more from giving things away than they can by charging for them. Traditional economics operates under fundamental assumptions of scarcity--there's only so much oil, iron, and gold in the world. But the online economy is built upon three cornerstones: processing power, hard drive storage, and bandwidth--and the costs of all these elements are trending toward zero at an incredible rate. Never in the course of human history have the primary inputs to an industrial economy fallen in price so fast and for so long. This is the engine behind the new Free, the one that goes beyond a marketing gimmick or a cross-subsidy. Anderson explores this radical idea for the new economy, and demonstrates how this revolutionary price can be harnessed for the benefit of both consumers and business alike.--From publisher description.