A pair of economists argue there is no need for copyright at all: Have we gone too far in protecting intellectual property?
In a paper that has gained wide attention (and caught serious flak) for challenging the conventional wisdom, economists Michele Boldrin and David K. Levine answer the final question with a resounding yes. Copyrights, patents, and similar government-granted rights serve only to reinforce monopoly control, with its attendant damages of inefficiently high prices, low quantities, and stifled future innovation, they write in Perfectly Competitive Innovation, a report published by the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. More to the point, they argue, economic theory shows that perfectly competitive markets are entirely capable of rewarding (and thereby stimulating) innovation, making copyrights and patents superfluous and wasteful.
...Economists prize economic growth but distrust monopoly, so accepting the latter to obtain the former is a Faustian bargain at best. With Perfectly Competitive Innovation, Boldrin and Levine vigorously reject the contract.
Innovation, they argue, has occurred in the past without substantial protection of intellectual property. "Historically, people have been inventing and writing books and music when copyright did not exist," notes Boldrin. "Mozart wrote a lot of very beautiful things without any copyright protection." (The publishers of music and books, on the other hand, sometimes did have copyrights in the materials they bought from their creators.)
...In arguing for competitive innovation rather than the monopolistic variety, Boldrin and Levine emphasize that they are not saying creators don’t have rights. On the contrary, they stress that innovators should be given "a well defined right of first sale." (Or, more technically, "we assume full appropriability of privately produced commodities.") And creators should be paid the full market value of their invention, the first unit of the new product. That value is "the net discounted value of the future stream of consumption services" generated by that first unit, which is an economist’s way of saying it’s worth the current value of everything it’s going to earn in the future.
So if Britney Spears records a new song, she should be able to sell the initial recording for the sum total of whatever music distributors think her fans will pay for copies of the music during the next century or so. Distributors know her songs are in demand, and she knows she can command a high price. As in any other market, the buyer and seller negotiate a deal.
.jpg?t=20120527181101)
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - geral sosbee
I hope that this board will permit this minor, but important intrusion:
-----------------------------------
The living dead (LD)... * A Frightful Lot
The modern day living dead are those individuals (including their silent, behind- the- scene supporters) who seek out others for torture, imprisonment and death.
We the living recognize the dire circumstances confronting the heartily alive among us who are in numbers increasingly unarmed and at the same time unsuspecting of the the atrocities inherent in the current stealthy onslaught. Blind trust in government often lures the innocent into the ranks of the LD, and they are all soon obsessed with and mesmerized by one and the same pragmatic, godless and collective goal: the conquest of Mankind by a singularly hideous and destructive creed.
Many of us among the living have come to view the reality of the LD phenomena as antithetical to human dignity and contrary to the laws of divine nature, because we recognize that the LD is characterized in his vile machinations by a macabre, immoral and murderous disposition from which no quick escape is apparent; ironically the LD shares a common fate with his new recruits: no way out of the labyrinth of hell created by the decadent and disturbed mind.
Finally, those remaining alive and strolling (on the surface placidly) amidst the turmoil created by the LD sometimes find comfort in the company of their own kind, as they welcome the inevitable return to grace offered by the heavens to the ever living and pure at heart who manage to avoid conscription into the ranks of the LD.
*"Men die of fright and live of confidence" (Henry D. Thoreau) Thus, in a sense, fright is at once the plague of the LD and the disease it seeks to spread.
2 - Christopher Rose
Say what?
3 - Clavos
Jeez, this guy waited five years to post that???
4 - Jordan Richardson
I'd hit it.
5 - duane
That's all well and good, Mr./Ms. Sosbee. But I do NOT have blind trust in government, and STILL I am obsessed with and mesmerized by my godless goal: the conquest of Mankind. How do you explain that?
6 - Bennett
Ha!
duane...
7 - geral sosbee
such incredible insight boys and girls; tell us your true names so we may credit you for something other than your fear of being identified.
8 - Christopher Rose
Mostly we all know each other, Geral, it's you that's the stranger and making fancy accusations...
9 - geral sosbee
"fancy accusations" seems to be your present purpose, Chris. I simply posted and received a number of silly comments like the one you, Sir, just posted.
10 - Christopher Rose
I'm not exactly sure how a simple statement of fact is a silly comment but there you go.
11 - Clavos
I just looked at Mr. Sosbee's links.
He is (he claims) a former FBI agent who is being persecuted for reasons too obscurely hidden in his website for me to discover before I lost interest in remaining there.
It's a creepy, paranoid site. His ramblings and ravings read very much like those of every other conspiracy-obsessed individual who's ever posted on these threads.
Only the details (what few are offered) change.
12 - geral sosbee
The admin here is an unethical and cowardly punk for his removing my posts and permitting personal verbal assaults on me by his favorite low minded posters.
13 - Jordan Richardson
I'd still hit it.
14 - geral sosbee
repetitive gibberish; enlighten the reader as to the meaning of the profoundly evocative, yet meaningless
"Id hit it."!and
"I'd still hit it."
I believe you indeed hit it, little one.
15 - Jordan Richardson
I think it's par for the course.
16 - Christopher Rose
Geral, is your unfounded rage getting the better of you? I'm the admin here and none of your comments have been removed.
17 - geral sosbee
"The Fog of War"...
is the same fog in the mind of a silly frightful boy Jordan Richardson.
18 - Christopher Rose
Geral, you can either participate in this online conversation as it is or move along to another site. What you can't do is complain about the insults you perceive and then make attacks yourself.
19 - Jordan Richardson
Frightful?
Geral, a quick search of your name turns up an awful lot of strange and bizarre accusations. Perhaps the reason nobody is taking you seriously is because you come across as a bit less than credible. Your post was also dreadfully obscure, strange, and filled to the brim with nonsensical rhetoric that nobody but you and "Barbara Hartwell" seem to understand.
There is no question about it that government, FBI, CIA, and host of other organizations need to be held accountable for various actions. But your accusations are unclear, muddled, and strange. Instead of presenting a cohesive case, you've decided to bounce from website to website to spread your own brand of conspiracy theory. It seems you're probably not doing your "cause" a lot of favours by resorting to wild accusations of comment deletion and paranoiac ramblings. Believe or not, the FBI has nothing to do with Blogcritics.
In short: what the hell are you talking about?
20 - Jordan Richardson
A few things I find particularly amusing about Geral Sosbee:
1. He thinks that the fact that he didn't get a teaching job in China is the fault of the FBI/CIA and not the fault of a lack of qualifications or for a disinterest on behalf of the University of Hong Kong to hire someone characterized as "batshit crazy" to teach their students.
2. The largest portions of his website are tempered with "in my humble opinion or other such "disclaimers," this enabling him to get away with sweeping generalizations. It is his opinion that the FBI/CIA/military industrial complex is planning to "annihilate" certain cities in the United States. It is his opinion that the FBI/CIA/military industrial complex actually knows what those cities are and that human beings will be targeted for termination.
3. He believes that female FBI agents file "false sworn affidavits" accusing the "usually male" target of misconduct. He also believes that there is a "secret law" that allows the FBI to place impotence-causing drugs into the food of the "usually male target." This causes the "usually male target" to not be able to engage in intimate relationships. Also, food doesn't taste the same.
4. He points to "evidence" on other pages of his extensive "story" on his "website." When you click on the "evidence," you are given a disclaimer again that states "as always, the above is the opinion of Geral Sosbee." This permeates throughout the site and the evidence is shown, by and large, through the manifestations of the rantings and ravings of a wild man.
In short, what I learned from Part 1 of Geral Sosbee's "story" on his "website" is the following:
A. When I am turned down for a teaching job at a Chinese university (in Hong Kong), I can blame the FBI for it instead of my own lack of credentials and/or sanity.
B. When a female FBI agent turns down my advances and/or my hand up her skirt, I can blame the FBI "false sworn affidavit" program for it.
C. When my wife complains of a lack of intimacy due to impotence, I can now safely blame the Feds. I can also use this same excuse to point out how her meatloaf "sucks."
D. I can say I have "evidence" to back up just about any claim I make. My "evidence" can be my opinion.
E. I'd hit it, Geral. I'd hit it good.
21 - El Bicho
geral, keep fighting the good fight. The masses usually fear and attack that which they don't or can't understand. History is filled with stories of men like Jesus Christ and Galileo who were persecuted for the truths they offered that mankind wasn't ready to accept. You stand in good company.
22 - Al Barger
Geral, Jesus Christ, Galileo, Obama and El Bicho - the controversial beacons of enlightenment. Stay strong, Geral!
23 - El Bicho
Brother Al, if it's enlightenment you seek, just wait for my upcoming Willie Nelson boxset review
24 - STM
"my upcoming Willie Nelson boxset review"
Something to look forward to ...
25 - STM
Shouldn't this have been posted to the Conspiracy theories thread??
And how come American conspiracy theorists call people things like "Sir" and "Bucko" when they they don't much like them??
Geez America's a hard place to understand.