Dead Poets’ Property - How Does Copyright Influence Price
Type:
SIEPR Discussion Paper 14-001
Author(s):
Published:
09/18/14
Abstract:
This paper exploits a differential increase in copyright under the UK Copyright
Act of 1814 - in favor of books by dead authors – to examine the influence of
longer copyrights on price. Difference-in-differences analyses, which compare
changes in the price of books by dead and living authors, indicate a substantial
increase in price in response to an extension in copyright length. By comparison,
placebo regressions for books by dead authors that did not benefit from the
extension indicate no differential increase. Historical evidence suggests that
longer copyrights increase price by improving publishers’ ability to practice
intertemporal price discrimination.
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