Much like the concept behind bundling, free riders naturally contribute to the status of the economy. They should not entirely be viewed as 'moochers' or those that actively seek out freebies just because they're there. In my opinion, free riders are one of those factors that help groups and businesses (etc) figure out the true value for certain items and services based on how people react to them. Starting off with a good or service being free can obviously help peole learn in advance how popular that good is and how useful it may be. Judging this can give a business or individual seller a good jump start into making a profit out of the service at a later time. Yes, free riders may take advantage of every service out there if they do not have to pay for it, but the fact is that they still contribute to society and make it run a little more efficiently. Utility/general happiness will increase, even if it's a simple free service on the web or some temporary thing at a store like Walmart or Costco's. It would seem that there is more than one perspective to be held on this matter.
Taking a simple free service off the internet for example, like Youtube downloader (it can easily be searched for)--there are other programs out there like it, ones which may actually be purchased for top quality downloads and conversions of various videos. Youtube downloader allows you to download videos straight for youtube via the URLs, and download it into almost any file type you need. Based on other programs out there and for the fact that media stores like iTunes want you to buy individual songs or bundled downloads, a free rider can easily go to youtube downloader and just download any amount of songs with just a few clicks thanks to this program. Does this have a negative impact on the economy and the music industry? Perhaps it does for the latter, because if something like this was banned, even more profits could be made off of smaller downloads. For whatever reason, Youtube downloader has not been banned, and many people still use it simply for the fact that it's free. Free riders will also take advantage of bundling, and various media sites use this aspect. As for the economy as a whole, the externalities free riders have on society may not impact the economy that greatly after all.
free riders create incentive to improve the system to capture the value that they are stealing from the service provider. But with these new inovations a super free rider is created one with better strategies and better success. this constant battle between the two just allow them to improve upon one another and eventually limits the amount of free riders due to the specialization needed to beat the system.
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