It is a theft but not a crime

Alessandro Balestrino

European Journal of Political Economy, 2008, vol. 24, issue 2, 455-469

Abstract: Why do people who normally refrain from committing illegalities become digital pirates? In this paper we use a theoretical model of digital piracy combined with a game-theoretic mechanism of social norm formation to argue that no social stigma is attached to digital piracy because the latter has no perceived social cost; therefore, there is no pressure to build a norm condemning it. However, there also exists a "sophisticate" form of piracy focused on high-quality copies, and not on Internet downloads and black market purchases of low-quality copies like the most common form. Somewhat paradoxically, sophisticate piracy could help to generate a social attitude against piracy, because it is self-containing. However, it is limited in its scope, and it is difficult to predict whether it might ever become sufficiently widespread to effectively engender the formation of anti-piracy social norms.

Date: 2008
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (15)

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Working Paper: It is a Theft but not a Crime (2007)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:poleco:v:24:y:2008:i:2:p:455-469

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