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Presumably because it's societally optimal for everyone to be able to consume as much media as they like (since it has a marginal cost of zero). He gains, no on

by emmett 17y ago

Presumably because it's societally optimal for everyone to be able to consume as much media as they like (since it has a marginal cost of zero). He gains, no one else loses. Of course, there's a massive externality to deal with: how do the people who create media get money for it? But in an optimal system (which we might not be able to create) everyone would still be able to consume as much as they want.

anamax 17y ago
> Of course, there's a massive externality to deal with: how do the people who create media get money for it? But in an optimal system (which we might not be able to create) everyone would still be able to consume as much as they want. How is it "optimal" if it doesn't address the obvious cost? We don't consider compensating producers as an externality where physical goods are concerned, so why is it an externality for intangible goods?
- chromatic 17y ago
  > We don't consider compensating producers as an externality where physical goods are concerned, so why is it an externality for intangible goods? That's a good question. One important difference is that, at the point of which duplication is possible, the intangible good already exists. Compensating the creator for creating the good may or may not encourage future creations. It's a sunk cost. It's also the only cost.
  - anamax 17y ago
    > One important difference is that, at the point of which duplication is possible, the intangible good already exists. Not so fast. Yes, duplicating intangible goods is relatively inexpensive, but at point of purchase and use, tangible goods also exist, the costs are sunk, etc, so they're exactly the same. In both cases, payment compensates producers for effort and resources that have already been expended.
    - emmett 17y ago
      Each incremental physical good deprives someone else of a copy of that good which could otherwise be gained. This is not true for digital goods, which have zero marginal cost. No tangible good has a zero marginal cost.
      - anamax 17y ago
        > Each incremental physical good deprives someone else of a copy of that good which could otherwise be gained. This is not true for digital goods, which have zero marginal cost. No tangible good has a zero marginal cost. While true, that's irrelevant to an argument that claimed that sunk costs were an externality that wasn't all that important.

by emmett 17y ago

anamax 17y ago

> Of course, there's a massive externality to deal with: how do the people who create media get money for it? But in an optimal system (which we might not be able to create) everyone would still be able to consume as much as they want. How is it "optimal" if it doesn't address the obvious cost? We don't consider compensating producers as an externality where physical goods are concerned, so why is it an externality for intangible goods?

chromatic 17y ago
> We don't consider compensating producers as an externality where physical goods are concerned, so why is it an externality for intangible goods? That's a good question. One important difference is that, at the point of which duplication is possible, the intangible good already exists. Compensating the creator for creating the good may or may not encourage future creations. It's a sunk cost. It's also the only cost.
- anamax 17y ago
  > One important difference is that, at the point of which duplication is possible, the intangible good already exists. Not so fast. Yes, duplicating intangible goods is relatively inexpensive, but at point of purchase and use, tangible goods also exist, the costs are sunk, etc, so they're exactly the same. In both cases, payment compensates producers for effort and resources that have already been expended.
  - emmett 17y ago
    Each incremental physical good deprives someone else of a copy of that good which could otherwise be gained. This is not true for digital goods, which have zero marginal cost. No tangible good has a zero marginal cost.
    - anamax 17y ago
      > Each incremental physical good deprives someone else of a copy of that good which could otherwise be gained. This is not true for digital goods, which have zero marginal cost. No tangible good has a zero marginal cost. While true, that's irrelevant to an argument that claimed that sunk costs were an externality that wasn't all that important.