Deficits and Patent Monopolies: A Lie Detector Test You Can Use at Home

One of the ways in which the government pays for things it wants done is to grant patent and copyright monopolies. This is not a statement about the merits of patents and copyrights as mechanisms for financing research and creative work; it is a definition. The government grants these monopolies to allow companies to charge prices that are far above the free market price as a reward for its past innovation or creative work.

In this way, patent or copyright monopoly can be thought as being lik...