There is, and has been, a misconception about the economics of free things for a long while now, this movement or ideology started from the premise of government hand-outs to the least economically developed citizens. When we do talk about the economics of free things(which is rarely) we usually associate it with the idea that it involves a regulatory central agency distributing the wealth amongst its people.  However when it come to the free market this type of leniency is not available at all. Day to day people don't have access to stocks or derivative markets for example, and that helps to increase the gap between the rich and the poor(which in turn requires the intervention of the aforementioned central authority).
New technologies however provide an opportunity for this gap to be closed. When a technology is in its infancy the interest for its development and widespread adoption from the creators is big enough to try and exchange portions of the value of their product for market depth. Put in other words and in regards to token economics, ICO's are so desperate for the widespread use and adoption of their product that they will literally give away portions of the participation of their product, in the form of tokens, in exchange for network effects and market depth. We now have an interesting concept formed from this: airdrops and the difficulty that this companies are going to have to achieve their  desired market depth.