[LINK] Statement of Principles: Copyright and the FTA

[Deus Ex Machina]

Glen Turner [glen.turner at aarnet.edu.au] wrote:
> On Mon, 2004-06-28 at 12:47, Deus Ex Machina wrote:
> > Glen Turner [glen.turner at aarnet.edu.au] wrote:
> > > > the entire thrust is predicated on obscure and unmeasurable
> > > > ideals like the "public good" and the opinion of members.
> > 
> > > The public good is measurable.  Since the spectacular failure of some
> > > 1960/70s development projects because of narrow measures of progress,
> > > practical Developmental Economics has had a sustained focus on the
> > > measurement of the public good. But even within the System of National
> > > Accounts it's pretty clear that the intellectual property changes of the
> > > AUSFTA are a loss for Australia.
> > 
> > prove it. the System of National Accounts does not measure public good.
> 
> OK.
> 
> The SNA measures the economic activity of the nation, with a bias
> towards measurements which are simple to take. Economic activity is a
> significant aspect of the public good (if you buy into the "trickle down
> theory of welfare economics", the major aspect). That's why we are
> interested in measuring it in the first place.
> 
> Free trade is likely to improve the SNA more than other aspects of the
> public good (by definition, since the SNA measures trade whereas other
> components of the public good do not). And yet the economic modeling of
> the FTA's effects on the SNA is coming up short for the Intellectual
> Property provisions. A strong indication that the FTA is not positive
> for the public good.

reference?

measuring a "significant aspect of" is a far cry from "The public good is
measurable". what you are saying in effect is the public good can be
measured by measuring the total (simplified) sum of the "individual goods",
which I agree is pretty much the only thing you can say about "commons" and "public good".

which agrees with my point that curtailement of IP rights are bad
since they have a negative effect on SNA.

Vic