Author Archives: Timothy B Lee

Yesterday I sketched a model of pricing in the traditional book industry. The question I’d like to address now is what this model implies for the future of the eBook industry. My argument leans heavily on the proposition that the … Continue reading →

I’ve been having a long Twitter discussion with Will Wilkinson about the economics of the book industry. Will wanted to know how authors could make money without “digital rights management” technology, and I replied by saying that writing a book … Continue reading →

There’s a strong argument to be made that the Jimmy Carter administration was the most libertarian-friendly of the last half-century. One of the administration’s signal accomplishments was the deregulation of the trucking industry. Jesse Walker tells the story: Consider the … Continue reading →

Alex Payne, an engineer at Twitter, explains why he’s “disturbed” by the iPad: The thing that bothers me most about the iPad is this: if I had an iPad rather than a real computer as a kid, I’d never be … Continue reading →

Via Mike Masnick, Guardian editor Alan Rusbridger has a great piece explaining what’s at stake in the paywall debate: The second issue it raises is the one of ‘authority’ versus ‘involvement’. Or, more crudely, ‘Us versus Them’. Again, this is … Continue reading →

In Tuesday’s post about the New York Times and its paywall, I made the passing comment that Sergey Brin and Larry Page might be able to design a paywall that wouldn’t hurt the paper’s bottom line. But after thinking about … Continue reading →

Apple released a new product, called the iPad, today. For those of you who don’t spend your days glued to Twitter, you can view all the details at Apple’s website. I’m not impressed. I’m a lifelong Mac fanboy, so I’m … Continue reading →

My erstwhile boss David Boaz says that Avatar is an allegory about property rights: People have traveled to Pandora to take something that belongs to the Na’vi: their land and the minerals under it. That’s a stark violation of property … Continue reading →

The New York Times says it plans to introduce a paywall next year. Tom Lee says it won’t work. Jerry Brito says it might: If the NYT website’s readership is like anything else, there’s probably a power law at work. … Continue reading →

Chris Berg makes the case for expanded immigration from Haiti to the West: According to a 2008 study by the Centre for Global Development, Haitian immigrants in the US earn on average six times more than equally educated Haitians who … Continue reading →