From: Tim May <tcmay@got.net>
Date: Tue, 10 Jun 1997 11:34:55 +0800
To: cypherpunks@cyberpass.net
Subject: Re: Thoughtcrime   (Re: My War)
In-Reply-To: <3.0.2.32.19970609183534.0069ac1c@netcom13.netcom.com>
Message-ID: <v03102810afc276b6f608@[207.167.93.63]>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain



At 7:52 PM -0700 6/9/97, Igor Chudov @ home wrote:
>Lucky Green wrote:

>> The answer is clearly no. By limiting the distribution of an individual
>> picture, you increase the total number of pictures required to satisfy
>> market demand. That means more children will be required to meet demand.
>
>How do you justify that "clearly"?
>
>I think that your analysis is incorrect.
>
>This is a supply and demand situation. It is very simple to show (as any
>microeconomics textbook does) that a tax on the product reduces the amount
>of product sold and produced.

Your economics education must have some gaps. Look into "price elasticity."
Look also at the markets for illegal drugs: despite severe "taxation" (in
the form of price increases of some drugs, increased prison terms, etc.),
some markets have increased even as prices have increased.

Closer to home, analyze gas consumption as gas taxes in American have risen
nearly 400% in the past 25 years (roughly following the OPEC shock in ;73).

With drugs, knocking out distributors has in many cases increased the
selling price of the drug, making it actually more lucrative for street
dealers to enter the market.

A complicated system, no doubt, but arguments based on "Econ 101" are
usually flawed when dealing with complex systems (something Samuelson would
almost certainly agree with me on).

>Since a unit of product is probably one picture of a child, there are
>less units produced if they are taxed.

This is not at all clear. If the crackdown on child porn, or porn in
general, causes the street price to rise to $10 a picture, say, then many
folks not producing child porn now might be tempted to get into the market.

If you look at your Econ 101 text again, read up on cycles of pork bellies
and suchlike agricultural products. Every shortage is followed by a period
of "overproduction," and vice versa.

What this all means for the porn trade is unclear, but looking at the drug
trade is pretty revealing.

--Tim May

There's something wrong when I'm a felon under an increasing number of laws.
Only one response to the key grabbers is warranted: "Death to Tyrants!"
---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:----
Timothy C. May              | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money,
tcmay@got.net  408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero
W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA  | knowledge, reputations, information markets,
Higher Power: 2^1398269     | black markets, collapse of governments.
"National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information superhighway."