<p>I wanted to know if there are theoretical models of copyright infringement and what are their implications for efficiency in the market and also, if possible, any empirical support they have.</p>
<p>When I think about it, firstly it seems that there can be loss of efficiency due to under-supply, as the actual number demanding the commodity would be higher than those who buy it legally, thus the legal producers perceiving it as less demand. What exactly does this inefficiency depend on, however? What would be the effect of the marginal cost of the unauthorized copy? Or maybe this common sense explanation is not true at all and the models reveal something totally different.</p>
<p>So I wanted to read some formal models to gain more insight, and also if possible the empirical support such models have.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-05-02T20:05:22.680Z
To be clear, this is about software piracy?
Giskard
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-05-02T21:20:32.433Z
Giskard I was thinking about piracy in general, nothing very specific. But if I need to be more specific, yes, software, and also access to premium content in streaming platforms perhaps, maybe access to online lectures/ class notes/ quizzes or even CDs/ DVDs of movies etc.
Ishan Kashyap Hazarika
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-05-02T21:55:36.210Z
Ok, so it is not piracy like in "pirates of the caribbean". There are economic theories of copyright, and one way to analyze the economic consequences of piracy is to see them as ways to circumvent or undermine copyright. In these theories copyright is usually there to prevent underinvestment in the production of different immaterial goods so the circumvention results in their underproduction. Whether this is the case is offcourse empirically contestable at least to some extent see for example the case of [Napster](https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/full/10.1086/663157)
Jesper Hybel
<microeconomics><markets><pareto-efficiency><black-market>
Theoretical models of copyright infringement and efficiency implications
Ishan Kashyap Hazarika
# Theoretical models of copyright infringement and efficiency implications

(Asked by: username_0 on 2021-05-02)

I wanted to know if there are theoretical models of copyright infringement and what are their implications for efficiency in the market and also, if possible, any empirical support they have.

When I think about it, firstly it seems that there can be loss of efficiency due to under-supply, as the actual number demanding the commodity would be higher than those who buy it legally, thus the legal producers perceiving it as less demand. What exactly does this inefficiency depend on, however? What would be the effect of the marginal cost of the unauthorized copy? Or maybe this common sense explanation is not true at all and the models reveal something totally different.

So I wanted to read some formal models to gain more insight, and also if possible the empirical support such models have.

**Tags:** microeconomics, markets, pareto-efficiency, black-market

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: To be clear, this is about software piracy?  
> **username_0**: username_1 I was thinking about piracy in general, nothing very specific. But if I need to be more specific, yes, software, and also access to premium content in streaming platforms perhaps, maybe access to online lectures/ class notes/ quizzes or even CDs/ DVDs of movies etc.  
> **username_2**: Ok, so it is not piracy like in "pirates of the caribbean". There are economic theories of copyright, and one way to analyze the economic consequences of piracy is to see them as ways to circumvent or undermine copyright. In these theories copyright is usually there to prevent underinvestment in the production of different immaterial goods so the circumvention results in their underproduction. Whether this is the case is offcourse empirically contestable at least to some extent see for example the case of [Napster](https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/full/10.1086/663157)  

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## 0 answers

