Doug wrote:
> >In response to that, and to Brad's stuff on New Economy goods, I
> >wonder: just how significant are they to overall output? Movies and
> >software are chic, but they're not *that* big a share of GDP. IP is
> >important to chip design and drug manufacture, but those things
> >aren't easy to duplicate unless you spend lots of money setting up
> >manufacturing plants. So what are we really talking about here?
> >
> >Doug
Intellectual property is everywhere. Disney clothes, Nike shoes, pharmaceuticals ....
Brad added
> The answer to that question I honestly don't know. For intellectuals,
> it has the potential to give us Godlike powers of observation and
> reference. At lunch earlier this week some of the UCLA economic
> historians were wondering how they had survived before they had fast
> internet connections to http://www.jstor.org/, the Mellon
> Foundation's academic journal storage website. And if the NLR ever
> gets its back issues online its intellectual influence will go way,
> way, way up.
Nobody ever said that intellectual property was not useful. Why does JSTOR charge so much? Wouldn't it be nice if everbody had access to it? Why are Elsivier journals so expensive. -- Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University Chico, CA 95929
Tel. 530-898-5321 E-Mail michael at ecst.csuchico.edu