DeCSS, crypto, law, and economics

[Ian Brown]

> It would be nice to have an enlightened discussion of such topics.

"Lay people often react to differential pricing for the same good with a
sense of unfairness. No matter how many times they are lectured by the
economists that it is actually to the benefit of all that producers be able
to charge different prices to groups with different ability and willingness
to pay, the popular reaction is normally "that's not fair."

Economists have tended to view this as a sign of the public's naive failure
to understand market mechanisms. If the drug company can charge the poor
nation a low price and the rich nation a high price for the same drug, all
will be better off. It is better, then, that gray markets, parallel imports,
and resale be prohibited. Popular resistance can be branded as a kind of
economically illiterate Jacobinism. There is certainly some truth to this
depiction; there are indeed benefits to price discrimination under certain
circumstances. But I would like to think that the popular skepticism towards
price discrimination also reflects something much more rational. Lacking
time to educate themselves in every aspect of market and culture, the public
tends to be skeptical when an industry claims that expert opinion shows that
what is good for the company will also be good for the nation, and that
state aid in enforcing its desires will produce an economically efficient
result. And you know what? Given the arguments reviewed in this Paper, I
would say that the public has a point."

http://law.vanderbilt.edu/lawreview/vol536/boyle.pdf



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