Z:gnu-www-ja-moglen-harvard-speech-2004--a499c5-=3Cb=3EMoglen:=3C/b=3E The 21st centur/en

Moglen: The 21st century political economy is different from the past economic history of the human beings because the economy is full of goods that have zero marginal cost. Traditional microeconomic reasoning depends upon the fact that goods in general have non-zero marginal cost. It takes money to make, move, and sell each one. The availability of freedom for all in the world of bitstreams hinges on that non, on that zero marginal cost characteristic of digital information. It is because the marginal cost of computer software is zero that all we have to do is cover the fixed costs of its making in order to make it free to everybody, free not just in the sense of freedom, but also in the sense of beer.