Patronage economy

This refers to the funding of free software production, as being done by patrons, much as in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, but now by a mix of corporations, foundations, research money, etc..

This idea of a patronage economy, citing the work of Paul David, is discussed by John Willinsky in an article for First Monday, at http://www.firstmonday.org/issues/issue10_8/willinsky//index.html

See the special issue of P/I (P2P News), #103, dedicated to 'Funding for Peer Production'and available via http://integralvisioning.org/index.php?topic=p2p, at 103 - http://integralvisioning.org/article.php?story=p2p103