IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/tpr/restat/v95y2013i3p1018-1029.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

What Is the True Loss Due to Piracy? Evidence from Microsoft Office in Hong Kong

Author

Listed:
  • Tin Cheuk Leung

    (Chinese University of Hong Kong)

Abstract

Using a unique conjoint data set drawn from 281 college students in Hong Kong, I estimate a random-coefficient discrete choice demand system for Microsoft Office from legal and various illegal sources. Counterfactual results show two things. First, most students would switch to Internet piracy even if the government eradicated street piracy. This explains why software piracy in Hong Kong remains well above 40% despite the government's successful measures to bring down street piracy. Second, the true gain from shutting off all sources of piracy is HK$48.6 (US$6) per person, only 15% of the Business Software Alliance's estimated cost of piracy. © 2013 The President and Fellows of Harvard College and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Suggested Citation

  • Tin Cheuk Leung, 2013. "What Is the True Loss Due to Piracy? Evidence from Microsoft Office in Hong Kong," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 95(3), pages 1018-1029, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:tpr:restat:v:95:y:2013:i:3:p:1018-1029
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/REST_a_00290
    File Function: link to full text PDF
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version below or search for a different version of it.

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Rob, Rafael & Waldfogel, Joel, 2006. "Piracy on the High C's: Music Downloading, Sales Displacement, and Social Welfare in a Sample of College Students," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 49(1), pages 29-62, April.
    2. Carlsson, Fredrik & Martinsson, Peter, 2001. "Do Hypothetical and Actual Marginal Willingness to Pay Differ in Choice Experiments?: Application to the Valuation of the Environment," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 41(2), pages 179-192, March.
    3. Chen, Yongmin & Puttitanun, Thitima, 2005. "Intellectual property rights and innovation in developing countries," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 78(2), pages 474-493, December.
    4. Hui Kai-Lung & Png Ivan, 2003. "Piracy and the Legitimate Demand for Recorded Music," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 2(1), pages 1-22, September.
    5. James Bessen & Robert M. Hunt, 2007. "An Empirical Look at Software Patents," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 16(1), pages 157-189, March.
    6. Felix Oberholzer-Gee & Koleman Strumpf, 2007. "The Effect of File Sharing on Record Sales: An Empirical Analysis," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 115(1), pages 1-42.
    7. Grossman, Gene M & Shapiro, Carl, 1988. "Counterfeit-Product Trade," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 78(1), pages 59-75, March.
    8. Yi Qian, 2008. "Impacts of Entry by Counterfeiters," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 123(4), pages 1577-1609.
    9. Boldrin,Michele & Levine,David K., 2010. "Against Intellectual Monopoly," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521127264.
    10. Ginarte, Juan C. & Park, Walter G., 1997. "Determinants of patent rights: A cross-national study," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 26(3), pages 283-301, October.
    11. Louviere,Jordan J. & Hensher,David A. & Swait,Joffre D. With contributions by-Name:Adamowicz,Wiktor, 2000. "Stated Choice Methods," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521788304.
    12. Gene M. Grossman & Carl Shapiro, 1988. "Foreign Counterfeiting of Status Goods," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 103(1), pages 79-100.
    13. Marron, Donald B & Steel, David G, 2000. "Which Countries Protect Intellectual Property? The Case of Software Piracy," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 38(2), pages 159-174, April.
    14. Hensher, David & Louviere, Jordan & Swait, Joffre, 1998. "Combining sources of preference data," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 89(1-2), pages 197-221, November.
    15. Berry, Steven & Levinsohn, James & Pakes, Ariel, 1995. "Automobile Prices in Market Equilibrium," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 63(4), pages 841-890, July.
    16. Eleanor McDonnell Feit & Mark A. Beltramo & Fred M. Feinberg, 2010. "Reality Check: Combining Choice Experiments with Market Data to Estimate the Importance of Product Attributes," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 56(5), pages 785-800, May.
    17. Louviere, Jordan J & Hensher, David A, 1983. "Using Discrete Choice Models with Experimental Design Data to Forecast Consumer Demand for a Unique Cultural Event," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 10(3), pages 348-361, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Chao, Hong & Ho, Chun-Yu & Leung, Tin Cheuk & Ng, Travis, 2017. "To root or not to root? The economics of jailbreak," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 45(3), pages 481-497.
    2. Leung, Tin Cheuk, 2015. "Music piracy: Bad for record sales but good for the iPod?," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 1-12.
    3. Keisuke Hattori & Keisaku Higashida, 2023. "Who should be regulated: Genuine producers or third parties?," Journal of Economics, Springer, vol. 138(3), pages 249-286, April.
    4. Szabó, Andrea & Pham, Vinh, 2022. "Net neutrality and consumer demand in the video on-demand market," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 61(C).
    5. Milan Miric & Lars Bo Jeppesen, 2020. "Does piracy lead to product abandonment or stimulate new product development?: Evidence from mobile platform‐based developer firms," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 41(12), pages 2155-2184, December.
    6. Kanazawa, Kyogo & Kawaguchi, Kohei, 2022. "Displacement effects of public libraries," Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    7. Carsten Fink & Keith E. Maskus & Yi Qian, 2016. "The Economic Effects of Counterfeiting and Piracy: A Review and Implications for Developing Countries," The World Bank Research Observer, World Bank, vol. 31(1), pages 1-28.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Chao, Hong & Ho, Chun-Yu & Leung, Tin Cheuk & Ng, Travis, 2017. "To root or not to root? The economics of jailbreak," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 45(3), pages 481-497.
    2. Haghani, Milad & Bliemer, Michiel C.J. & Hensher, David A., 2021. "The landscape of econometric discrete choice modelling research," Journal of choice modelling, Elsevier, vol. 40(C).
    3. Leung, Tin Cheuk, 2015. "Music piracy: Bad for record sales but good for the iPod?," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 1-12.
    4. Yi Qian, 2014. "Counterfeiters: Foes or Friends? How Counterfeits Affect Sales by Product Quality Tier," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 60(10), pages 2381-2400, October.
    5. Yi Qian, 2011. "Counterfeiters: Foes or Friends? How Do Counterfeits Affect Different Product Quality Tiers?," NBER Working Papers 16785, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. Xiaolin Li & Chenxi Liao & Ying Xie, 2021. "Digital Piracy, Creative Productivity, and Customer Care Effort: Evidence from the Digital Publishing Industry," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 40(4), pages 685-707, July.
    7. Laura Alfaro & Cathy Bao & Maggie X. Chen & Junjie Hong & Claudia Steinwender, 2022. "Omnia Juncta in Uno*: foreign powers and trademark protection in Shanghai's concession era," CEP Discussion Papers dp1827, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    8. Felix Oberholzer-Gee & Koleman Strumpf, 2010. "File Sharing and Copyright," NBER Chapters, in: Innovation Policy and the Economy, Volume 10, pages 19-55, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    9. Aguiar, Luis & Martens, Bertin, 2016. "Digital music consumption on the Internet: Evidence from clickstream data," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 27-43.
    10. Butticè, Vincenzo & Caviggioli, Federico & Franzoni, Chiara & Scellato, Giuseppe & Stryszowski, Piotr & Thumm, Nikolaus, 2020. "Counterfeiting in digital technologies: An empirical analysis of the economic performance and innovative activities of affected companies," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(5).
    11. Joel Waldfogel, 2012. "Music Piracy and Its Effects on Demand, Supply, and Welfare," Innovation Policy and the Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 12(1), pages 91-110.
    12. Stefano Comino & Fabio Maria Manenti, 2015. "Intellectual Property and Innovation in Information and Communication Technology (ICT)," JRC Research Reports JRC97541, Joint Research Centre.
    13. Brett Danaher & Michael D. Smith & Rahul Telang, 2014. "Piracy and Copyright Enforcement Mechanisms," Innovation Policy and the Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 14(1), pages 25-61.
    14. Bate, Roger & Jin, Ginger Zhe & Mathur, Aparna, 2011. "Does price reveal poor-quality drugs? Evidence from 17 countries," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 30(6), pages 1150-1163.
    15. Nikolaus Thumm & Vincenzo Butticè & Federico Caviggioli & Chiara Franzoni & Giuseppe, Scellato, 2018. "Impact of counterfeiting on the performance of digital technology companies," JRC Working Papers on Digital Economy 2018-03, Joint Research Centre.
    16. Popov, V., 2011. "Do We Need to Protect Intellectual Property Rights?," Journal of the New Economic Association, New Economic Association, issue 11, pages 107-126.
    17. Richard T. Carson, 2011. "Contingent Valuation," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 2489.
    18. Hu, Shu & Fu, Ke & Wu, Tong, 2021. "The role of consumer behavior and power structures in coping with shoddy goods," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 155(C).
    19. Hoyos, David, 2010. "The state of the art of environmental valuation with discrete choice experiments," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(8), pages 1595-1603, June.
    20. Abdin, Joynal & Sharma, Abhijit & Trivedi, Rohit & Wang, Chengang, 2024. "Financing constraints, intellectual property rights protection and incremental innovation: Evidence from transition economy firms," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 198(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Business Software Alliance; intellectual property enforcement; Microsoft Office; software piracy;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • L86 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Services - - - Information and Internet Services; Computer Software
    • K42 - Law and Economics - - Legal Procedure, the Legal System, and Illegal Behavior - - - Illegal Behavior and the Enforcement of Law
    • O34 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Intellectual Property and Intellectual Capital

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:tpr:restat:v:95:y:2013:i:3:p:1018-1029. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Kelly McDougall (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://direct.mit.edu/journals .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.