Dan D’Amico: An Economist’s Look at Intellectual Property Law

Austrian economist Dan D’Amico¹ provides an interesting IHS/LearnLiberty talk (apparently at Cato): An Economist’s Look at Intellectual Property Law. Abstract:

Prof. Daniel D’Amico discusses several arguments for and against government enforcement of intellectual property, including trademarks, patents, and copyrights. He explores both moral arguments (deontological) and cost benefit arguments (consequential), dedicating most of his time to consequential arguments. He finds that, in general, intellectual property is difficult to enforce and is inherently an anti-rival good. As a result, he finds no compelling case for government established intellectual property law.

1. I’ve blogged about D’Amico before: Prisons and IP: Tucker Interview with Dan D’Amico; Austrian economics program denied at Loyola New Orleans. [↩]