Stan Liebowitz on copyright and incentives

Stan Liebowitz on copyright and incentivesStan Liebowitz, Ashbel Smith Professor of Economics at the University of Texas at Dallas, discusses his paper, “Is Efficient Copyright a Reasonable Goal?” According to Leibowitz, economists could hypothetically calculate the exact copyright terms necessary to incentivize creators to make new works without allowing them to capture “rents,” or profits above the bare minimum necessary. However, he argues, efficiency might not be the best goal for copyright.

Liebowitz argues from a fairness or justice perspective that society should not favor an economically efficient copyright law, but one that treats creators of copyrighted works the same as workers in other types of industries. In other industries, he argues, workers are allowed to capture and keep rents.

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Is Efficient Copyright a Reasonable Goal?, by Liebowitz
TSeventeen Famous Economists Weigh in on Copyright: The Role of Theory, Empirics, and Network Effects, by by Liebowitz
How copyright is like Solyndra , by Jerry Brito