There are many reasons why costs in higher education have been rising faster than inflation for many decades. A fundamental reason is because education is so labor-intensive and (so far) has been resistant to improved productivity via capital investment or technology. This is called Baumol's Cost Disease. But there are other reasons too. One is … Continue reading Oligopoly and the Costs of Higher Education – Journals Edition
Intellectual Monopoly
Mitt Romney Says Corporations Are People. Frankenstein Was A Person, Too.
From the Brian McFadden in the New York Times:
Corporate Entitlements: Music Edition
Well sorry to all for the two-week absence, but I'm back from being on the road and all the end-of-semester stuff the school requires. There's a myth that's pushed and carefully nurtured by corporate executives and conservatives. It's the image that "private enterprise" lives and dies by the market and that the profit motive is … Continue reading Corporate Entitlements: Music Edition
“Piracy” Is the Result of Market Failures
Publishers of digital media, be it music, movies, or software, have long argued that it's a legal and moral problem. The reasons, they claim, that unauthorized copies (I refuse to call them illegal or pirate) exist is because either organized criminals are stealing their "intellectual property", or people are too stupid or immoral to respect … Continue reading “Piracy” Is the Result of Market Failures
Copyright = Lawsuits
From Against Monopoly: Copyright = Lawsuits
Will your big-screen Super Bowl party violate copyright law?
Nate Anderson of Ars Technica relates a timely example of just how absurd and outrageous the concept of copyright has gotten. An offhand comment the other day by a friend caught my attention—"Did you know that you can't watch the Super Bowl on a TV screen larger than 55 inches? Yeah, it's right there in … Continue reading Will your big-screen Super Bowl party violate copyright law?
EconProph 