教科書市場,著作權法和策略性誘因的一般理論

Abstract

長久以來，經濟學家依賴教科書傳授有關經濟學理論的知識，卻鮮少研究教科書市場。對教科書市場缺乏足夠的認識，就會產生許多誤解與繆論。經濟學的文獻過度關心複製品，反而忽略了對正版品的研究。人們誤以為只要透過著作權法抑制盜版，就能保護教科書市場的財產權能正常交易，繼而帶來該產業的進步與品質的提升。本研究挑戰支持擴張著作權的傳統經濟理論，提出嶄新的模型，用以解釋教科書市場的經濟活動。 本研究包含三大部份。首先，回顧教科書研究的經濟學文獻，深入了解盜版、抄襲與教科書的經濟思想，是如何演變至今。直到近年美國大學生抗議教科書索價過高，造成供需雙方對簿公堂的過程，也一並做記錄與分析。其次，觀察個體行為，建構出一般理論模型，用以解釋教科書市場的運作。過去文獻重視供給面的部份均衡，一般理論模型則補足以往缺乏的需求面；也將「教科書品質」作為貫穿理論的主軸，有異於傳統文獻對「數量」的過分關注。一般理論模型能解釋著作權法對教科書市場的多重影響，尤其是在法律環境改變經濟誘因之後，各個經濟單位所採取的策略行為。最後，依循Varian（2005），試圖尋找免用著作權法的解決方案，是有可能存在的。再以DeLong（2000）作為檢驗是否「市場失靈」的標準，結果證明：著作權法不能改善教科書市場的經濟效率！ 本研究以折舊率來負面定義品質變數；以「不耐久的程度」負面定義耐久財，使得折舊率在經濟學理論裡面，出現「內生」的可能性。在考慮品質變數之後的一般理論模型，解釋教科書市場的能力優於使用部分均衡的傳統文獻。著作權法在一般理論的檢視之下，顯現其只能增加交易數量，不能提升品質的本性。這就說明該法保護的教科書產業，對於經濟成長與技術進步，並不存在有社會所期待的貢獻，還會造成社會過多的負擔。

Economists have long been depending on textbooks to instruct the theories on Economics, but few of them are dedicated to researching the market of textbook. People tend to develop a number of misunderstandings and paradoxes due to lack of sufficient knowledge. In the past, most studies on Economics concentrated on the duplicates so as to ignore the research of the original items. People think incorrectly that the textbook market is able to trade normally for the improvement of the quality and the advancement of the industry as long as the piracy can be stopped by the Copyright Law. In addition to challenge the traditional theories of supporting the Copyright Law, this research proposes a new model to explain the economic activities in textbook market. This research can be divided into three parts: At first, we look backwards to the past studies on textbook, discuss the piracy, plagiarism, related thoughts, and how to evolve till now. Some college students in America have recently protested the high prices of textbooks so that both the supply and demand appeared in court. It’s also included and analyzed further in this research. Furthermore, by observing the individual behavior, we construct a general theory model to explain how the textbooks market works. For the past studies, they only put emphasis on the partial balance in the aspect of supply. Our model strengthens the aspect of demand. Meanwhile, we consider the ”quality of textbooks” as the center of our theory, which is quite different from the traditional studies on the overconcern of the “quantities”. Our theory model can explain the multi-influences on textbook market under the Copyright Law. Especially when the laws change the economic incentives, each economic unit takes the responding strategy. At last, according to Varian (2005), it’s possible to seek a solution without the Copyright Law. Also, we examine it subject to Delong (2000) as a standard of “the market failure”. The result proves that the Copyright Law is unable to improve the economic efficiency of textbook market. This research defines the quality variations negatively by depreciation rate, and the non-durable level for the duration goods. So, the possibility of “endogenous Variable” appears. After considering the quality variations, our model is superior to the traditionally partial equilibrium studies. In our model, the Copyright Law can only increase the trading quantities instead of improving the quality. That is, the textbook industry protected under the Copyright Law doesn’t contribute too much to the society in view of the economic growth and technological advancement; instead, it might lead to too much burden to our society.