tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3829599.post3433750149727014953..comments2024-01-28T00:20:40.933-08:00Comments on Agoraphilia: Binary Demand for Copyrighted GoodsUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3829599.post-18568708663027895952007-10-07T16:01:00.000-07:002007-10-07T16:01:00.000-07:00In my economics A-Level coursework (sort of like a...In my economics A-Level coursework (sort of like a thesis you do at age 17/18) I proposed that recorded music is in fact a public good in the more general sense.<BR/><BR/>A public good is a good that is non-rival and non-excludable. Music today is essentially non-excludable because there is no practical way to stop people from sharing music for free online. It is also non-rivalrous becuase one person downloading a song, be it through file sharing or iTunes, does not decrease the quantity of music available for others in any meaningful way.<BR/><BR/>If my proposition was commonly accepted, I wonder how many people would call for government provision of music? Perhaps if file sharing had been around since medieval times we might have a nationalised music industry today and no one would think twice about it.Scott Freemanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03189076390204673741noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3829599.post-17468968585984001542007-10-04T21:26:00.000-07:002007-10-04T21:26:00.000-07:00I would say that assumption is unusual -- in the s...I would say that assumption is unusual -- in the sense that economists rarely use it -- but not heretical. I suspect most economists would accept your reasoning, and I can think of at least a couple of economic models for specific applications that assume a consumer buys only one unit (at a time, at least).Glen Whitmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01425907466575991113noreply@blogger.com