![]() ![]() We should be doing both as best we can on their merits in individual situations, but it’s a reflection of our mercantilist culture that the “free rider problem” is both a household expression and an endlessly stoked social anxiety whereas the “free rider opportunity” is so unfamiliar that it sounds deeply counterintuitive – subversive even.Īt the birth of modernity Thomas Jefferson spoke of the free rider opportunity more eloquently than any statesman then or since: If, as a society today, we had to choose between addressing the free rider problem and seizing the free rider opportunity, taking the latter option wins hands down. ![]() So let’s take a step back and address the issue of free-riding from a different perspective. In other words, free-riding made us what we are today. But we’re still free riding on their work. We’re not paying royalties to the estates of Matthew Bolton and James Watt for their refinements to the piston engine. And after patents expire in 20 years (it used to be less) it’s open slather. A little of this innovation was fostered by intellectual property rights which give temporary monopolies in technology. The American economist Robert Solow demonstrated in the 1950s that nearly all of the productivity growth in history – particularly our rise from subsistence to affluence since the industrial revolution – was a result not of increasing capital investment, but of people finding better ways of working and playing, and then being copied. And while we whine about the problem, the opportunity has always been far larger and its value grows with every passing day. In addition to the free rider problem, which we should solve as best we can, there’s a free rider opportunity. If it costs vast sums to test a new drug, we can’t expect the market to do so if all that investment can be undercut by imitators.īut here’s the thing. Does that mean we should ‘share’ or ‘pirate’ more copyrighted things on the internet? Not necessarily. Anathematized and stigmatized today, free-riders built the lion’s share of the prosperity we enjoy today.
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