IP Paper on Econlog

My research on intellectual property is featured at

The title of this post, “everyone take copies,” comes from a conversation between the human subjects in an experiment in our lab, on which the paper is based. The experiment was studying how and when people take resources from one another.

Here’s a tip that doesn’t require any piracy. For those of you who are tired of the subscription economy fees, I think it’s safe to say in 2026 that anyone in the United States can find a local thrift store or annual rummage sale with oodles of nearly-free media. DVDs for a dollar. Used books for a dollar. Basically you are paying the transaction costs – the media itself is free. (I typed that dash myself, not AI!)

“Buying” a move to stream on Amazon Prime can run over $20. Buying a used DVD is almost always less than $10.

Something like the above observation probably lead to this parody news headline Awesome New Streaming Service Records Movie Streams Onto Cool Shiny Discs And You Can Buy Them And Own Them Forever

Here’s a response from the prompt “Make a picture of my office with AOL CD-ROMs decorating the wall.”