"only a market can do that."

Only a market without the gross and abhorrent market interference of copyright and patent monopolies can do that!

Go Pirate Party! End Intellectual Slavery Now!

Well, one might add that the entire market for patents, copyrights and trademarks exists because of government intervention, there is nothing 'natural' about any of them.

So, there are two concerns:

1. From a purely economic perspective, what approach optimizes innovation. That is very tricky to measure in an unbiased way, of course, without bringing in the biases of the measurer.

and

2. What level of intervention is consistent with basic liberties and freedoms? The basic liberties and freedoms would include, for example, the Bill of Rights. It is notable that no one from the PFF has ever tried to defend the affronts to freedoms which their policies entail, ignoring all mention of these problems. Well, they won't go away just because you ignore them.

I don't think either of you actually read the paper.

Actually, yes I did and there is nothing addressing these two issues there, although to be fair, it is concentrated on a certain economic analysis, but still the comment number one was not addressed, which is: what metric do you use to measure innovation?

And re: the second point, there is no one at PFF who is capable to understanding this point because of the informational exclusions that your world view includes, you are in fact incapable of recognizing this issue.

Enigma Foundry writes:

"Well, one might add that the entire market for patents, copyrights and trademarks exists because of government intervention, there is nothing 'natural' about any of them."

If that's what you believe, then to be consistent, you should say the same about the market for all forms of property.

Government intervention, in the form of laws (trespassing, theft, etc.), courts to enforce the laws, and police power to back up the courts, is what creates a viable market for all other forms of property. If not for these forms of government intervention, how are you going to successfully enjoy, buy and sell real property, physical property, or any other property interests (bonds, securities, contract rights)?