[BCPVP]

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Again, you are confusing the dictionary definition of scarcity and the economic definition of scarcity. This is often the first thing you learn in an economics class.


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I am not IMO I believe that you are using an artificially narrow definition of scarcity that suits your argument.

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That IS the economic definition of scarcity, though. I didn't make it up.

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The "goodness" or "badness" of an idea has nothing to do with its economic scarcity. Your having the idea (good or bad) does not prevent me from having the same idea.


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I cannot have the same idea as you unless you are talking about vague simple ideas like "I like ice cream" You or I will not ever have the same scarce idea as Van Gogh, Jimmy Hendrix, or David Sklansky. We may have similar ideas but not the same idea.

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You are wrong. We can both have the same idea of how to build a car or paint a particular painting. I can have the idea to have the exact same notes in the exact same order with the exact same lyrics for Purple Haze as Jimi had. Therefore, the song Purple Haze cannot be scarce.

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Personally, I'd rather leave contracts out of the discussion as I'm already in agreement with you on that and it just muddies the waters on the issue of whether ideas can be scarce.

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I am saying that this contractual ownership of ideas is inherent in the idea itself. We may add additional contracts to to transaction of ideas but ownership of unique ideas is part and parcel of the idea and part of what makes it scarce.

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An idea would have to be scarce before it could be owned. You haven't shown how an idea can be scarce and if you can, consider applying for the Nobel because that would be quite a revolutionary economic concept.

Again, a unique idea does not mean it is economically scarce. Remember the definition of economic scarcity: a condition of limited resources, where society does not have sufficient resources to produce enough to fulfill subjective wants. An unlimited number of people can have any given idea and so an idea cannot be scarce.