Rothbard’s masterwork is being live blogged in full. An excellent job, judging from first three.
Source link: http://blog.mises.org/9507/ethics-of-liberty/
Ethics of Liberty
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But without IP/copyright laws, who would blog, sing songs, make movies, or innovate???
Education and Ethics
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Ethics Of Liberty Exposes The State As Tyrannical!
Why is ethics unattached to economics in these, the Dark Ages of economics?
There are several reasons. I address the scientific reasons in my scholarly works that were built upon the works of Murray Rothbard.
But also, one reason is because nowhere and no one can associate counterfeiting with ethics and this is not something that is acceptable in an educational system that glorifies the State. This depravity is not unique to the U.S. but it is worldwide because Keynesian economics has enabled the politically corrupt ego-driven interventionists to rise to positions of authority.
The fact of the matter, though, is that there is no moral authority for any intervention into the economy! It is unethical. So ethics cannot be given much attention in the Dark Ages of economics.
Mike:
Innovation comes not from copyright holding, but from competition. A copyright is in essence a government-approved monopoly for an invention or idea. This monopoly “protects” the inventor’s creation by making others literally unable to compete with him. Any innovations to the invention are delayed because others have no way to create or improve the invention without paying for use of the idea.
In Against Intellectual Monopoly, several examples of this are given. For instance, James Watt’s copyright on his improvements to the Newcomen steam engine stifled any major growth or improvement to the function of the engine:
“During the period of Watt’s patents the U.K. added about 750 horsepower of steam engines per year. In the thirty years following Watt’s patents, additional horsepower was added at a rate of more than 4,000 per year. Moreover, the fuel efficiency of steam engines changed little during the period of Watt’s patent; while between 1810 and 1835 it is estimated to have increased by a factor of five… The key innovation was the high-pressure steam engine – development of which had been blocked by Watt’s strategic use of his patent.”
Intellectual monopoly does not create or promote innovation past a basic design that is then, essentially, untouchable. By limiting the ability of entrepreneurs and inventors to improve on the initial design and fully compete, what the average consumer receives is an inferior, over-priced product.
Coming from a formally trained economist in the neo-classical “school†of economics, let me say that The Ethics of Liberty truly changed my life. To those who have not read it, The Ethics of Liberty coupled with a pairing of Human Action quickly followed by Man Economy & State is my strong recommendation. Mises and Rothbard ‘made an economist out of me’, something years of schooling failed to do.
If only someone in the current administration or at the FED would follow my recommendation.
Jon:
Check your sarcasm detector.
mike:
you might be interested in lawrence lessig’s work. He’s the guy who founded the creative commons.
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