SSRN's Colossal Stupidity:
I cannot believe that SSRN started charging 5 bucks to download papers. This is completely absurd. When did this start happening!?
God. I am losing faith in the innovation capability of the US
fast. Academics trade knowledge for freedom. Academic knowledge must be in the public domain.
Ok, check this out:
"You should expect a free download if you are a subscriber, a corporate associate of the NBER, or
a resident of nearly any developing country or transition economy".
This is the SO STUPID. So students in the States can't read it, but students in Nigeria can? Pensioners in the States can't read it, but the president of Burma can? Great incentives - especially from a bunch of ECONOMISTS!
Dammit, all I wanted to do was read an a 15 year old paper about asymmetric information. I can get it for free from one of the profs' sites - in Israel. But if I try to get it from an American site - even one that's funded by
me, a taxpayer, I have to pay (nber.org).
Maybe that's why Israel is innovating right now and America isn't - we're too busy trying to make a buck every which way we can, and destroying critical resources and capabilities in the process.