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ELIAS OLOFSSON
Autumn 2012
Master Thesis, 15 ECTS Master’s Program in Economics, 60 ECTS
Piracy on the market
A theoretical study of the policy tools a government can use when it wants to maximize social
welfare on a market influenced by piracy
Elias Olofsson
Abstract
This paper explores the influence of piracy (the illegal redistribution of digital goods) on an
information good (i.e. music) market. The purpose of the study is to investigate how a
government can use policy instruments to minimize losses on the market and at the same time
correct the behaviour of a monopoly firm. To the author’s knowledge, a study with the aim to
explore the effects of policy instruments on a market influenced by digital piracy has not been
done before. To answer the purpose, a theoretical model is developed consisting of three
agents; a consumer, a firm and a government. The policy instruments available for the
authorities are; introducing a sale tax on the original good, a fine on illegal consumption,
change the probability of being caught, or implementing lump-sum transfers. The welfare-
maximizing objective of the government is complicated by the fact that two types of market
failures influence the information good market simultaneously. The result of this paper shows
that the optimal fine will be larger than zero. However, the lone implementation of a fine
solution will be argued to be suboptimal, as the fine only will correct the behaviour of the
consumer and not the monopoly firm. The conclusions in the end are that the authorities can
either introduce a negative sales tax (subsidy), or use a combination of subsidy and fine to
correct the consumer and firm’s behaviour.
Keywords: Information good, Public good, Piracy, Optimal policy tools
Table of content
1. Introduction 1 1.1 Statement of the problem 3 1.2 Purpose 3 1.4 Previous Studies 3
2. Information as Public good 8
3. Model 10 3.1 The Consumer 10 3.2 The Firm 13 3.3 The government 14 3.4 First order conditions 15
4. Solving for the optimal policy 16 4.1 The simplified problem - The optimal sales tax 17 4.2 The simplified problem - The optimal fine 18 4.3 The simultaneous optimality problem 19
5. Discussion 20
6. Summary and Conclusion 23 6.1 Suggestions for future studies 24
7. Bibliography 25 Appendix 1 28 Appendix 2 34 Appendix 3 37
1
1. Introduction
With the rapid spread of Internet access across the world, ideas and information can be shared
across national boarders at low marginal cost. As traditional telecommunication monopolies
are shattered and new communication networks are introduced, competitive market powers
should lower any prices or costs associated with the sharing of information, and information
goods.1 The cost of one of these goods and the implications of sharing will be explored in this
thesis.
An example of information good is typically digital music products which posses the
characteristics of high fixed costs for the first copy, but low marginal cost for additional
copies.2 There are many goods that posses the characteristics of high fixed cost and low
marginal cost, that may be defined as information goods, however this paper will only focus
on music as the information good. The main problem for information good producing firms
toady is the presence of piracy, which makes the firm’s product available on a black market.
Piracy, the illegal redistribution and downloading of the information goods, combines low
reproduction and distribution costs for additional consumers to obtain the good.3 These
characteristics, low reproduction and distribution costs, also allows piracy to be defined as a
public good.
Although the music industry includes hundreds of different record labels, the industry can still
be described as a monopolistic competition were the music sales of the industry is
concentrated around a few companies.4 This definition is partly due to the economies of scale
that can be observed in the industry, where it is more economically sound to produce a vast
number of different artists to spread out the fixed cost that arise in production. In addition to
cost efficiency, it is possible to argue that artists (and their music) are not perfect substitutes
for one another. This notion implies that a firm has a monopoly on the production and sale of
the specific artist, and allows the firm to price their products above perfect competition levels.
The introduction of piracy on a market defined as operating under monopolistic competition
will challenge the price-setting capabilities of the firms by offering the same (or similar)
1 Kaul, Grunberg, and Stern, Global Public Goods, 318.
2 Belleflamme, Pricing Information goods in the presence of copying, 2.
3 Holm, Can economic theory explain piracy behaviour?, 1.
4 Rob and Waldfogel, Piracy on the high C’s, 4.
2
product, but at a much lower cost for the consumer, a marginal cost (opportunity cost) that
usually is assumed to approach zero. A government contemplating to intervene on a market
influenced by piracy must evaluate the positive effects offered by piracy, as the good is made
available below the monopoly price, against the losses inflicted on the firm’s profits. These
problems, the incomplete market caused by piracy, and monopoly pricing and welfare losses,5
are at the core of what is being explored in this thesis.
The presence of piracy will affect the firms by reducing their potential profits, an effect that in
2008 was estimated to cost the music industry US$40 billion in lost revenue.6 However, this
is a figure that must be viewed with some caution due to the fact that the actual revenue lost
for the industry should only contain consumers that would buy the original good if piracy was
not available.7 Individuals with a low willingness to pay for the original good and who obtain
the information good by illegally downloading it do not constitute a source of lost revenue for
the music industry as they would not have consumed the good if piracy was not available.8
These individuals, with their low valuation of the original information good, therefore
constitute a positive effect on the consumer surplus and will increase the social welfare
function through their actions. However, the growth of piracy networks may have a negative
effect on the firms profit function if the availability of the information good via the Net
changes consumer preferences. That is to say, consumers who initially would have bought the
good change their actions and choose to illegally download the good. Rob and Waldfogel
(2004) found in their sample that for every ten albums illegally downloaded, between one and
two would have been bought legally if piracy were not an option.
There may be many reasons why consumers choose to illegally download an information
good instead of obtaining the good on the legal market. Besides the economic motive of
downloading the information good, the low marginal cost for the consumers, there may be
moral, social or psychological factors behind consumers decision to obtain the information
good on the black market.9 If the consumers are rational, the decision comes down to which
action, buying the good legally or illegally downloading it, yields the greatest expected utility.
However, the (expected) utility of an individual who illegally downloads the good will
5 Stiglitz, Economics of the Public sector, 71-79.
6 Cammaerts and Meng, Creative destruction and copyright protection, 5.
7 Rafael and Waldfogel, Piracy on the high C’s, 2.
8 Cammaerts and Meng, Creative destruction and copyright protection, 5.
9 Marchese, Taxation, black markets, and other unintended consequences. 255-256.
3
depend on the likelihood of being caught and the resulting punishment, which are decided by
the government.10
1.1 Statement of the problem
By consuming the illegal good, a consumer can obtain a greater utility than it otherwise would
have been able to. This is due to piracy offering the consumer the information good at a lower
cost. However, if the proportion of illegal consumption becomes too large, the information
good producing firm may not be able to recuperate the cost of production. This may further
reduce output, or a worse case scenario; force the firm to cease all production.
When a market is operating inefficiently, even thought there are well-assigned property rights,
it falls upon the government to decide how to internalize any externality. The problem facing
the government is that by fully protecting the firm’s property rights, it will inflict monopoly
deadweight losses upon society. On the other hand, by not protecting the interest of the firm,
there is a risk that the firm will go bust and the market will disappear.
1.2 Purpose
The purpose of this study is to provide a theoretical model of how a government can use
policy instruments to minimize losses on a market influenced by piracy, and at the same time
correct the behaviour of the monopoly firm. The policy instruments investigated are: sales
tax, fine, the probability of being caught, and lump-sum transfers.
1.4 Previous Studies
The subject of piracy and information goods has been explored and discussed in the economic
literature for a long time. The initial interest of the subject was on physical copies of original
goods (e.g. photocopies of books) but during the late 1990’s and early 2000’s the notion of
digital piracy became a topic of discussion. This was due to the introduction of personal
computers with access to the Internet, where consumers could with a great ease obtain
copyrighted material at a low opportunity cost, instead of obtaining the original good in a
store. The rapid expansion of digital piracy during these years can partly be dedicated to the
suspicion that information good producing firms exhibited towards this new distribution
channel, i.e. Internet.11
In addition to the firms not capitalizing on this new distribution
possibility, the slow pace of national government to implement new more stringent copyright
10
Gopal, et al, A behavioural model of digital music piracy. 11
For example, the iTunes store did not open until 2003.
4
law12
and the subsequent ineffectiveness of these laws,13
allowed the concept of piracy to
settle amongst the consumers.
Previous studies of the subject have mainly focused on a consumer-firm perspective.
Empirical studies have tried to convey which parameters explain why consumers choose to
download the good illegally, while theoretical studies have defined the consumer demand and
firm profit under different market scenarios.
Paul Belleflamme (2002) provides a theoretical model to describe the effects copying has on
the producer of information goods. Production is initially set by a monopolist, which has to
take into account that the consumers can obtain the pirated good at a constant cost. The author
describes the market as a strategic pricing game where copies are assumed to be of lower
quality then originals. To investigate the (short- and long-run) welfare effects piracy has on
society, Belleflamme constructs three models, where the baseline model consists of a single
good produced by a monopoly. This model is then elaborated to include multiple goods
produced by multiple firms, and where there is a constant marginal cost of copying but no
fixed cost. And finally, a model with multiple goods and firms, where there is a fixed cost of
copying but no marginal cost. The author defines three reaction possibilities for the firm(s)
when it faces piracy, blocked, deter, or accommodate. The result of Belleflamme’s study is
that the demand and welfare effects of piracy will depend on whether the good is associated
with a fixed cost and no marginal cost, or a constant unit cost and no marginal cost.
Christiansen and Smith (2012) explore the impact of policy instrument to control externalities
caused by consumption behaviour. The authors assume (based on previous studies) that the
use of tax instruments to correct externality problem are imperfect/inadequate policy tools.
This is due to inefficiencies in the taxes and imperfect tax targeting of the government. Based
on this knowledge, Christiansen and Smith focus on inefficiencies caused by insufficient
differentiation and undesired differentiation. Where the first inefficiency occur when a
uniformed tax is implemented, but where the externality differs between the consumption
goods. And the second inefficiency occurs when some consumption goes untaxed due to
evasion or importation. As taxation is an imperfect correction instrument, the authors argue
12
The ”Intellectual Property Rights Enforcement Directive”-law (IPRED) was not enacted into Swedish law
until 2009. 13
Börkdahl, Ingen långsiktigt effekt av IPRED (No long term effect of IPRED).
5
that corrective regulation ought to be implemented as a complement to taxes. To explore the
two tax inefficiencies and the effects of regulation, Christiansen and Smith construct two
theoretical models. Depending on which tax inefficiency is observed, corrective regulation on
the market will be implemented differently. The authors conclude that regulation in
combination with taxation will (in general) lead to a more efficient outcome than only using
imperfect externality taxation or regulations.
Piolatto and Schuett (2012) investigate the effects of piracy when taking into consideration
differences in popularity between artists. Their model consists of firms (artists) producing one
good (i.e. recording) and selling it to a continuum of consumers, and where the artist’s level
of popularity is exogenously given. The illegal good is not subject to congestion, but the
availability and marginal cost of the illegal good is assumed to be decreasing as original sales
increases. The music-producing artist only faces the fixed cost of production and earns
revenue either from record sells or alternative commitments (e.g. live performances). Piolatto
and Schuett argue that popular artist’s products are easier accessible online and will be
(illegally) consumed to a large extent compared to less popular artists, which will entail the
popular artist to lose revenue in terms of record sales. However, the monetary losses inflicted
by piracy are compensated by an increase in alternative revenue sources. The authors find
three possible scenarios for how the artist can react to the notion of piracy, accommodate,
deterrence or blockade, where the artist reaction will be dependent on their popularity.
Popular artist will generally accommodate, while less popular artist will either deter or block
piracy. Piolatto and Schuett conclude that popular artist will experience a benefit from the
presents of piracy, as their side revenues will increase, while less popular artist will only
experience negative (monetary) effects of piracy. On the other hand, the authors argue that the
long run effects of piracy may be a decline in music variety, as less popular artist may hesitate
to continue their production.
In the article Optimal Enforcement and Anti-copying Strategies to counter copyright
infringement published 2008, Banerjee, Banerjee and Raychaudhuri (BBR) explore the anti-
coping investment a firm may consider, together with the policy instruments available for the
government when addressing the issue of commercial piracy. The authors construct a
theoretical model that consists of a monopoly producer (producing the original good) and a
possible entrant on the market by the fake producer (commercial pirate) that produces
6
identical copies of the monopoly product. The government is responsible of deterring the fake
producer from entering the market by monitoring and penalizing piracy. The problem BBR
presents is described as a Stackelberg game split into three stages. At a first stage the
government will choose its rate of surveillance of the market. The monopoly producer will
then set the output and the level of anti-coping investment to maximize profits. In the final
stage of the game, the fake producer will react to the government’s and monopolist strategies,
and decide whether to enter the market and if so, the level of (fake) production. The authors
define three possible strategies for the monopoly producer. The monopolist can either invest
in anti-copying so as the fake producer cannot produce the good (No copying), or set price
and output at a level where entrance is not profitable for the fake producer (Aggressive). A
finally strategy for the monopoly producer is to use its first mover advantage and maximizing
profits and assuming that the fake producer will copy the product (Accommodating). BBR
find two different equilibriums to the game. If the government monitors the market for fake
producers, the monopolist’s best strategy is to accommodate piracy. If on the other hand the
government does not monitor the market, either accommodate or no coping, are the best
strategies available for the monopolist.
Alessandro Balestrino (2012) investigates indirect redistributive taxation and corrective
taxation on physical status goods (e.g. designer handbags) when illegal copies are available
on the black market. Balestrino constructs a market with a well-defined illegal segment that
produces high-end fashion items, items that by nature is tax exempt. Classical assumptions
indicate that status goods ought be taxed more heavily than general consumption, due to the
fact that status goods are overconsumed (primarily) by high-income individuals. However, as
the market is influenced by the presence of pirated status goods, the classical theory of heavy
taxation does not hold. Where as by introducing large taxes on the legal status good market,
the government will only encourage the expansion of the black (tax exempt) market.
Balestrino also conclude that corrective taxation will encourage those who buy the (legal)
status good to consume the good at an efficient level, but at the same time increase the size of
the black market. The paper highlights the inefficiency of governmental interaction on a
market that is influenced by piracy.
In the article Does Copyright Enforcement Encourage Piracy? by Harbaugh and Khemka
(2010), the two authors argue that enforcement of copyrights can have adverse effects on
7
society. While the aim of such policy instrument is to raise the cost of piracy for all
consumers, the enforcement is most likely to affect the consumer segment with a low
willingness to pay. Harbaugh and Khemka describe a model with a continuum of potential
buyers, which can buy the copyrighted good (software program) from the firm, buy an
inferior pirated copy or not consume the good at all. The authors define the price and output
strategy of the firm as; acting like a monopoly, competing with the pirated good, or extending
the enforcement of the copyrighted good. By only enforcing their copyrights upon high-value
buyers (targeting), the firm will have an incentive to raise the price above monopoly levels
(super-monopoly pricing), which will have the effect of encouraging piracy consumption of
all other segments. By extending the enforcement of the copyright to other consumer
segments, the firm will need to lower the output price (below super-monopoly pricing) so as
to sell the additional goods. The reduction in price will thus raise consumer surplus and be
welfare enhancing. However, Harbaugh and Khemka also note that a more broad-based
enforcement scheme (instead of targeted enforcement) may cause consumer price to rise,
piracy consumption to fall, and consumer surplus to decrease.
In an article published 2003, Gayer and Shy investigate the effects of taxing hardware (e.g.
CD’s, cassettes, etcetera) and transferring the proceedings to information good producers (e.g.
software producer). The authors assume that the government cannot directly enforcement of
property of the producers, and instead have to adopt a second-best solution to combat piracy.
Due to the fact that piracy occurs on a black market, taxing the consumer who are consuming
the illegal good is impossible, instead other methods must be used to force consumers to face
the true cost of their (illegal) consumption and at the same time compensate the producer’s
loss in revenue. To investigate the problem of uniformly taxing all consumption of (possible)
piracy hardware, Gayer and Shy construct a model consisting of an infinite number of
consumers, a monopoly firm (software producer), and a government. The authors assume that
there exists a positive but diminishing relationship between the size of the monopoly firm’s
profits and the hardware tax. As the size of the tax increases, consumer demand for hardware
will decrease, but the demand for the monopoly good will also decrease. The problem facing
the government is that the tax rate that eliminates piracy is above the profit maximizing tax of
the firm. The authors conclude that due to the positive relationship between the taxed
hardware and the monopoly good, second-best governmental interaction is inefficient unless
the market is in danger of failing.
8
In an empirical study of college students valuation of music albums, Rob and Waldfogel
(2004) concludes that an additional downloaded unit will lower sales of the original good by
0.1-0.2 units. That is to say, one in ten (or two in ten) did not buy a specific album, which
they otherwise would have done, due to piracy. In addition, Rob and Waldfogel also conclude
that piracy raises consumer welfare by $70 per capita.
Håkan J. Holm (2003) performs a survey study to investigate if economic theory can explain
piracy, where students at the university of Lund were asked about their preferences for
information goods and individual traits. Holm concludes that if an individual has a low
valuation of the original good, possess computer skills and is a male, he is more likely to
engage in piracy activities. The author also finds suggestions that any campaign aimed in
changing moral opinions associated with piracy will be inefficient.
Christopher Yoo (2007) performs a comprehensive study to explore the properties of
copyrightable goods. The conclusions of Yoo’s study is that, contrary to conventional
assumptions, copyrightable works do not possess pure public goods characteristics, rather
they ought to be viewed as impure public goods.
2. Information as Public good
The definition of a pure public good must start with the clarification of the concepts of non-
rivalrous14
, and non-excludability in consumption, two properties a pure public good must
posses. Non-rivalrous in consumption implies that more than one individual can consume the
good without preventing other individuals from consuming the same good. While non-
excludability is the inability of the provider to control the use of the specific good.15
Goods
that posses both properties are defined as pure public goods, however there are few good that
posses both properties, were classic examples include national defence and lighthouses. More
commonly are goods that possess some of the characteristics of the pure public good, often
referred to as impure public goods, for example parks and motorways, which may be the
subject of exclusion through congestion.16
The inability of controlling the usage of public
goods often causes firms not to produce them, as firms are not able to extract the true cost of
14
Following the terminology used by John Leach in ”A Course in Public Economics”. 15
Leach, A Course in Public Economics, 155. 16
Ibid. 156.
9
production from the consumers. The inability of the market to provide public goods typically
forces the government to provide the public goods that are being consumed.
Information goods can be expressed as possessing some of the characteristics of a public
good. This is due to the ability of consumers to copy and redistribute the good on the black
market, where one individual’s consumption of the good does not hinder additional
consumers from obtaining the same good. Once a consumer has obtained the information
good, i.e. bought a CD or music file online, the consumer can make the good readily available
for other consumers on the Internet without the firm being able to charge additional users the
cost of consuming their product.17
That is, due to piracy the firm cannot exclude consumers
from obtaining and consuming the information good. The information good is said to be non-
rivalrous in consumption due to the fact that the marginal cost of providing additional copies
of the good is zero.18
This means that as the information good is illegally provided on the
Internet, one consumer’s consumption (download) does not stop another consumer from
acquiring the good.
When discussing public goods, and piracy’s effect on social welfare, it is important to present
the concept of “free riding”. Due to the fact that the public good is non-excludable, there is no
one that can hinder an individual from consuming the good, and also, there is no one on the
market that can force the individual to pay the costs of providing the good.19
Whether or not
piracy constitutes a positive externality or a free riding problem depends on the market
scenario and which actor’s objective is taken into consideration. The free riding problem will
only become problematic for society if the extent of the free riding causes the whole market to
break down, that is to say that all individuals decide to download the information good.
The government’s reaction to the notion of the information good as a public good depends on
the circumstances of the market and does not automatically imply that the government must
intervene on the market. Instead of the government providing the information good according
to the Samuelson condition for optimal provision of a public good, with all the implication
this entails,20
the government can use its policy instruments to create and enforce the
17
Yoo, Copyright and Public Good Economics, 10-11. 18
Ibid. 11. 19
Except the authorities if they catch the individual consuming the illegal good. 20
See Chapter 10 in A Course in Pubic Economics by Johan Leach.
10
existence of the intellectual property rights for the producing firms. Following Yoo’s (2007)
argument that information goods does not possess the characteristics of pure public goods, the
notion that the government should intervene and provide the good by using the Samuelson
condition becomes unsuitable. While the government will not be able to change the non-
rivalry property of the information good, it is possible to make the information good more
excludable by writing and enforcing the rule of law.21
However, the mere existence of the
firm’s intellectual property rights does not guarantee that all consumers will obey the law and
buy the information good in the legal market.22
Through the allocation of funds to antipiracy
activities the government can secure the existence of the information good market.
3. Model
Three agents populate the economy described below: consumers, producer and a government.
There are n identical consumers normalized to one, one monopoly firm, and a government
that wants to maximize society’s welfare. The economy operates over one time period so
there are no intertemporal decisions being made by any of the agents.
3.1 The Consumer
The consumer’s utility can be described by a general utility function
[( ) ( )] (1)
where x is the information good the individual consumes, ( ) is the amount of legal
information good consumed and the amount of illegal information good, c is a numeraire
good, f is the total amount of time available for the consumer and ( ) is the opportunity
cost of time spent downloading illegal information good. The consumer will experience
different utility depending on whether the good is the original- or illegal good, due to the
assumption that there is a quality difference between the goods. The proportion of illegal
consumption is in the interval of 0 and 1, were indicates that all consumption of the
information good is provided on the illegal market and that all consumption is provided
on the legal market. ( ) can be thought of as time spent devoted to searching and
downloading the illegal information good. That is to say, if the consumer increases the
21
Varian, Markets for Information Goods, 7. 22
Belleflamme, Pricing information goods in the presence of copying, 25.
11
proportion of illegal consumption, a, or increases the total amount of information goods
consumed, x, he/she will need to allocate more time to obtain the illegal goods.23
The consumer’s budget restriction will differ depending on if the consumer is caught or not
caught downloading the information good.
( ) (2)
( ) (3)
The left hand side (LHS) of the consumer’s budget restriction when caught, equation (2),
consists of the disposable income level m, assumed to be fixed, and a lump-sum transfer, .
For the consumer’s budget to balance, LHS must equal the cost of the numeraire good, c,
where prices are normalized to one, the cost of consuming the legal information good,
( ) ,24
and the fine imposed by the government on caught consumers, .
When the consumer is not caught, equation (3), the LHS of the budget restriction will equal
the cost of the numeraire good and the cost of legal consumption.
The consumption of the illegal good will result in some uncertainty for the consumer, as it is
not known whether the individual will experience an increase in welfare from the illegal good
or be forced to pay the piracy fine imposed by the government. This notion results in that the
utility of the consumer is expressed as an expected utility function.
[ ] ( ) [ ] ( ( )) [ ] (4)
The expected utility function is the sum of the utility the consumer obtained when caught
multiplied with the probability of being caught, and the utility the consumer obtains when not
caught multiplied with the probability of not being caught.25
The probability of being caught
is a function of R, an institutional parameter referring to antipiracy activities from law
enforcement agencies and court proceedings. If the individual does not obtain the information
23
That is and
. 24
Where is the consumer price and can be expressed as , which is the producer price plus the
sales tax. 25
Varian, Microeconomic Analysis, 174.
12
good illegally, , the utility is known with certainty and will be: [ ]. The direct
utilities are:
[ ] [( ) ( )] (5)
[ ] [( ) ( ) ] (6)
where the differences in utility between equation (5) and (6) is that the consumer will
experience an increase in welfare from illegal consumption, , when not caught. On the
other hand when caught, the consumer must allocate funds to cover the expense of the fine, as
expressed in equation (2). This allocation will entail that the consumer will be able to afford
less of all goods and subsequently obtain a lower utility. An assumption is made that a
consumer is only caught after all illegal information goods is downloaded. As a consequence,
the consumer will pay the marginal opportunity cost, ( ), independent if caught or not.
By combining equations (2) to (6) it is possible to express the consumers expected utility
when caught- or not caught illegally downloading the information good.
[ ] ( ) [( ) ( ) ( )]
( ( )) [( ) ( ) ( ) ] (7)
To obtain the first order conditions for the consumer demands, equation (7) is differentiated
with respect to x and a:
[ ]
( ) ( ( ) ( ( ) ) (
))
( ( )) ( ( ) ( ( )) (
) ( ))
(8)
[ ]
( ) ( ( ) ( ) (
))
( ( )) ( ( ) ( ) (
) ( ))
(9)
13
which expresses that the consumer will make an optimal choice when the marginal utility of
consumption equals the consumer’s marginal cost. From equations (8) and (9) it is also
possible to stated that the consumer demand for x is a function ( ( ) ) and the
consumer demand for a is a function ( ( ) ).
3.2 The Firm
Turning to the firm, its profit is determined by whether the consumer buys the original good,
but since piracy occurs on the market, the firm does not make a profit on all goods produced.
That is to say, the firm produces more information goods then they sell, but still have to pay
the cost associated with this production. An assumption is made that all the information goods
produced will be available on the illegal information good market. The firms profit function
can be described as:
( ) (10)
where the firm earns revenue from each unit of x sold on the legal information good market,
but due to piracy the firm does not sell all goods produced, ( ) . Associated with
the production of the information good is a fixed cost, F, normalized to zero, and a marginal
cost of producing additional units of the information good, . The firm may earn additional
revenue from a lump-sum transfer from the government, .
By assuming that the firm faces a negative demand curve on the market, an increase in
production of the good must be met by a decrease in price to sell the additional output. This
results in that the output price of the firm is a function of the x. However unlike normal
monopoly’s, the information good producing firm faces an externality, as some proportion of
output is lost through piracy. By using equations (8) and (9), it is possible to obtain
expressions for and a as functions of x.
( ( ( ) ) ( ) )
( ( ( ) ) ( ) )
(11)
By substitution the expressions in equation (11) into equation (10) and differentiating the
function with respect to x, the first order condition of the firm obtained. By rearranging the
expression, the monopoly firm’s profit maximization condition is obtained:
14
( ) ( )
(12)
where the monopoly firm’s output choice will entail that the marginal revenue, the LHS, must
at optimum equal marginal cost, the RHS. The solution in equation (12) does however differs
from the profit maximization condition for a firm operating on a market not influenced by
piracy,
. That is to say, when the firm ears a profit on all goods
produced. However when the market is influenced by piracy, , the firm does not earn a
profit on all goods produced as some consumption is lost for the firm. There is also an
additional cost of production to the firm. By differentiating equation (10) with respect to a,
the marginal damage of piracy for the firm is obtained.26
The last term on LHS in equation
(12) represents the marginal damage of piracy, multiplied with the change in illegal demand
as the firm increases output. By assuming that
, any increase in output will result in the
firm increasing the marginal damage inflicted upon itself.
The notion that the firm is the only producer of the information good will entail that the price
and output is set different to social optimal and the market can be said not to operate
efficiently.27
This result, monopoly pricing and welfare losses, will influence the level of the
optimal policy tools later on.
3.3 The government
The government’s budget constraint is given by:
( ) ( ) (13)
where ( ) is the revenue from the sales taxation for the legal information good,
is the fine an individual who is caught illegally downloading the information good has
to pay, which is dependent on the probability of being caught ( ) . The probability
parameter will appear in the governments budget constraint due to the fact that the authorities
initially does not know whether the consumer will be caught and made to pay the fine. R is
26
27 Rosen and Gayer. Public Finance, 46.
15
the cost of counter piracy actions from the government. As stated above, the probability of
getting caught p is a function of R, were the governments counter piracy actions can be
thought of as allocation of funds for police and court proceedings, which increase the
probability of catching consumers who illegally download the information good. is the
lump-sum transfer paid by the consumer, and is the lump-sum transfer received by the
firm.
By using equation (7) and equation (10), it is possible to express the social welfare function
as:
[ ] (14)
where the utilitarian social welfare function is the expected utility of the consumer, and the
profit of the firm. The utilitarian welfare function is used in this instance so as the government
will treat a change to the expected utility the same way as a change in the firms profit. The
objective of the government is to maximize the social welfare function, subject to its budget
restriction. This objective is complicated by the fact that the market experiences two market
failure, monopoly and incomplete markets. To provide an expression for the governments
maximizing problem, a Lagrange function is constructed using equation (14) as the objective,
subject to equation (13), where and corresponds to the optimal choice made by the firm,
and is the Lagrange multiplier.
[ ] [ ( ) ( ) ] (15)
3.4 First order conditions
Presented below are the first order conditions for the government’s maximization problems.
These are obtained by differentiating equation (15) with respect to the sales tax, t, the fine, T,
the allocation of funds for police and court proceedings (changing the probability of being
caught), R, and the lump-sum transfers (consumer) and (firm). In Appendix 1, the
mathematics for equations (16) to (20) is provided. The result from the equations will then be
used to obtain an expression for the optimal sales tax and the optimal fine.
16
(( ) )
( )
[( ) ( )
( )
( )
]
(16)
( ) ( )
( )
[ ( )
( ) ( )
( )
]
(17)
( )
( )
( )
[ ( )
( )
( )
]
(18)
( )
( )
[ ( )
( )
( )
]
(19)
(20)
4. Solving for the optimal policy
By combining the results from equations (16), (17), (19) and (20) it is possible to provide an
expression for the optimal sales tax and the optimal fine. To solve the problem, equation (19)
is multiplied by a given expression and the new equation is subtracted equation (16) and (17),
respectively. The equation is the solved for the specific parameter, and provides an expression
for the optimal policy tool. The mathematical procedure of solve the optimal policy problem
is provided in Appendix 2.
The problem will be solved in two stages, first by assuming that one of the policies is
unavailable, i.e. equal to zero. The result for the optimal policy will then be analysed, and the
sign of the expression will be decided. This is followed by a discussion of the effects and
implications of using both policy tools simultaneously. The equations of the simultaneous
17
policy tools will not be presented in the text below, due to the fact that the sign of the
expressions cannot be determined. However, the equations will be provided in Appendix 3.
4.1 The simplified problem - The optimal sales tax
Under the assumption that the use of the fine is unavailable, , the authorities must
combat two market failures by the implementation of an optimal sales tax. To solve the
simplified optimality problem, equation (19) is multiplying by ( ) and then the new
equation is subtracted from equation (17).28
By using compensated demand functions29
and
solving for parameter t, the equation will sum to:
[
( )
]((
)
( ) ) (21)
where the sales tax can be shown to be smaller than zero, . That is to say, the optimal
policy tool for the government when combating the market failures, and no other instrument
is available, is to implement a subsidy. In addition to trying to correct the behaviour of the
consumer, the government also wants to correct the monopoly behaviour of the firm. Where
as by introducing a subsidy the government can influence the firm to increase output to (or
closer to) social optimal levels. From equation (20) it can be observed that the Lagrange
multiplier (the government’s shadow price) equals one. This notion indicates that there is no
additional cost for the government in implementing any of the policy tools. The denominator
of equations (21) will be negative. This is due to the fact that a small change in the sales tax
will decrease the compensated demand for the original good,
, and at the same time
increase the compensated demand of illegal consumption,
. The first term in the
nominator corresponds to the marginal damage of piracy for the firm, a concept discussed in
section 3.2. The expression indicates that an increase in the sales tax will increase
compensated demand of illegal consumption and inflict the firm loss with an additional loss in
revenue. The second term in the nominator corresponds to the change in the compensated
price function from an increase in the sales tax. As the sales tax increases, the firm will need
28
Where both expressions are adjusted to the notion of T=0. 29
For example,
expresses the difference in illegal demand after a change in the sales tax and the adjusted
lump-sum transfer. That is, [
( ) ].
18
to decrease output price to keep consumption constant. That is to say,
. The result of
the denominator and nominator indicates thus that the government will set the sales tax below
zero.
4.2 The simplified problem - The optimal fine
Assuming that the sales tax is not available for the government, , the authorities must
use a fine scheme to combat the two market failures. The appeal of using a fine imposed on
the caught individual is that it offers the government a cost efficient and passive policy
instrument of correcting the market failures. As long as the probability of being caught is
greater than zero (true by assumption), the government will rely on the market to adjust itself
after the introduction of the fine. To obtain an expression for the optimal fine, equation (19) is
multiplied by ( )( ) , and then the expression is subtracted from equation (17).30
By
solving for T and using the expressions for the compensated demand functions, the equation
will sum to:
(
( ) [
])((
)
( ) ) (22)
where the optimal fine will be greater than zero. The denominator of equation (22) will be
assumed to be smaller than zero. The compensated demand for the original good will be
assumed to increase from a small change to the fine,
, at the same time as the
compensated demand of illegal consumption will decrease,
. However, the
compensated demand for the original good is scaled with the proportion of illegal
consumption, a, which is interval 0 and 1. The compensated demand of illegal consumption is
multiplied with the total amount of information goods produced, x, which is (by assumption) a
real number greater than one. This results in the assumption that the bracketed term in the
denominator is smaller than zero. In addition to the compensated demands, the denominator is
also determined by the probability of being caught, ( ), which is indirectly selected by the
government through the allocation of funds for police and court proceedings, and is by
assumption greater than zero.31
The conclusion of the positive sign of the probability
30
As in the previous example the equations are adjusted for . 31
If the probability of being caught were zero, there would be no risk for the consumer of downloading the
illegal good. However, as consumption of the illegal good entails some uncertainty, the probability of being
caught must be greater than zero. ( ) .
19
parameter and the negative sign of the bracketed term is that the denominator sums to a
negative expression. The first term of the nominator corresponds, as for equation (21), to the
marginal damage inflicted on the firm by piracy. However the expression in equation (22) is
multiplied with the change in compensated demand of illegal consumption as the fine is
increased. As stated above, the compensated demand for illegal consumption is decreasing as
the fine increases. This results in that the first expression of the nominator is negative,
implying that firm will experience an increase in revenue (or an decrease in the marginal
damage) as the fine is increased. The second term in the nominator, the effect to the
compensated price function as the fine is changed, can be assumed to be greater than zero,
. That is to say, as the fine increases, illegal consumption will decrease, allowing the
firm to raise the output price without loosing consumption to piracy. These notions, the
effects to the marginal damage and the compensated price, results in the nominator summing
to a negative expression. The negative denominator and nominator will does entail that the
optimal policy available for the government when it wants to correct for two market failures
is to introduce a fine that is greater than zero.
4.3 The simultaneous optimality problem
Dropping the assumption that the government can only use one policy tool at a time to correct
the market failures, the authorities can solve the optimality problem by setting both policy
tools simultaneously. However unlike for the simplified problems, equations (21) and (22),
the sign of the expressions (positive or negative) for when the government sets both policy
tools simultaneously cannot be determined with certainty. Due to this implication the
equations for the simultaneous policy tools will not be presented in the text below,32
instead a
discussion of the effects of setting co-ordinated policy tools will follow.
By assuming that the simultaneous optimality tools have the same sign as for the simplified
solutions, and
, a question can then be stated; “Why would the authorities
introduce a second policy tool if they could fully correct both market failures using only
one”? If the government set the sales tax optimally (introduces a subsidy), why introduce the
fine? One possible answer may be that a subsidy scheme does not fully correct the behaviour
of both agents. Where it is possible that illegal consumption may not decrease to such an
extent that the authorities expected, due to the fact that the marginal opportunity cost of piracy
32
The mathematics are however presented in Appendix 3.
20
can be assumed to be lower than the subsidy compensated consumer price. A second possible
answer may be that the cost of implementing an optimal subsidy will be too large for society
to bear.
If, on the other hand, the authorities introduced the optimal fine initially, what would be the
incentive to introduce a subsidy scheme? From the nominator of equation (22) it can be
observed that the introduction of the optimal fine will mainly act in the interest of the firm by
increasing its price-setting capability and at the same time decrease illegal comsumption. The
consumer on the other hand will experience a decrease in its expected utility, as the disutility
of being caught will increase as the fine is raised, causing the consumer to decrease illegal
consumption. The consumer will experience additional losses in welfare as the price of the
legal good increases. The introduction of a subsidy scheme will then both boost consumer
utility (lowering consumer price) and firm profits (increasing production and output price),
and consequently raise social welfare.
The implication of setting the policy instruments simultaneously will in the end (probably) be
that the both tools are set at lower levels compared to the simplified solutions.33
That is to say,
and
. This is due to the fact that both tools will decrease the amount of market
failure the other tool needs to correct for.
5. Discussion
In the following section, the implications of using the optimal policy instruments and their
effects on the social welfare function will be discussed. To the author’s knowledge, a study
with the aim to investigate the effects of governmental policy instruments on a market
influenced by digital piracy has not been done before.
The government’s maximization objective is impeded due to two market failures that are
observed and were the two failures affected the agents in opposing ways. If the market had
been characterized by perfect competition, any presence of piracy had been deemed welfare
deteriorating, as the market would have been operating at the social optimal level. However,
just because there exists market failures does not justify the government to intervene.34;35
On
33
Also argued in Christiansen and Smith, Externality-Correcting Taxes and Regulation. 34
Brent, Applied Cost-Benefit Analysis, 109.
21
the other hand, by actively engaging the marketplace the government can force the market to
operate closer to the social optimal point and advert the possibility of the market breaking
down completely or a decrease in variety of goods produced36
.
The result from equation (21) states that the optimal sales tax should be set smaller then zero.
That is to say, the authorities will introduce a subsidy.37
A subsidy scheme will have the effect
of offering the consumer a price closer to perfect competition levels, which will increase legal
consumption and at the same time decrease illegal consumption. As the consumer can afford
more of the original good at a given level of income, the expected utility of the consumer will
increase. The firm on the other hand will face an output price greater than the consumer price,
were as by increasing output the firm can raise its profits and production will move closer to
social optimal levels. By introducing a subsidy scheme the authorities can counteract the two
market failure, increase production and raise social welfare. However, if the government aims
to cover all consumer demand for the original good, the size of the subsidy may in the end
become too large for society to bear, where the cost of the subsidy outweighs the increase in
welfare.38
Even at perfect competition price and output levels there may be an incentive for
the consumer to consume the illegal good, as the marginal opportunity cost of piracy
approaches zero. Under such a scenario, piracy can be argued to be welfare deteriorating as
the market is operating (by assumption) at the social optimal point.
While a subsidy solution both boosted legal consumption (increasing output and decreasing
the consumer price) and decrease the proportion of consumption lost to the firm (increasing
profits), a fine solution will only directly correct the behaviour of the consumer (the aspect of
incomplete markets). The introduction of an optimal fine can be view as a passive policy
instrument by the government, where as long as the probability of being caught is greater than
zero, any increase in the fine will influence the information good market and does not entail
any additional interaction from the authorities.39
The instrument will however decrease the
proportion of illegal consumption by increasing the disutility of being caught, and
subsequently lowering the expected utility of the consumer. That is to say, the potential of
having to pay the fine is a sufficient deterrent to correct the effects of the incomplete market.
35
Ibid, “Just because an externality exists in a private market, it doesn’t necessarily mean that the equilibrium
output is not socially optimal”, 128. 36
Piolatto and Schuett, Music piracy, 39. 37
A result also noted in Auerbach and Hines, Taxation and Economic Efficienty, 59. 38
Harbaugh and Khemka, Does Copyright Enforcement Encourage Piracy?, 314. 39
True under the assumption that the government does not pay any court or policing cost to get the consumer
convicted of piracy.
22
The positive compensated price function in equation (22) also indicates that any increase in
the fine will offer the firm the possibility of raising the output price closer to monopoly levels.
By implementing a sufficiently large fine, the government will only act in the interest of the
firm, increasing the market inefficiency and imposing monopoly losses on the society.
However the result from equation (22) only states that the optimal fine is set greater than zero.
This notion, , allows the government to adjust the market failures by
implementing a fine that is sufficiently large to decrease some of the illegal consumption but
not so large as to impose additional welfare losses. This result indicates that the optimal fine
may be set relatively close to zero so as to not cause monopoly pricing and welfare losses.
Due to the fact that a fine solution does not correct the monopoly behaviour of the firm, it is
possible to argue that the policy instrument produces a suboptimal solution. This notion
entails that any stable market equilibrium (where the firm does not inflict any substantial
monopoly losses upon society and piracy does not jeopardize the existence of the market or
the variety of production) will only be reached by chance.
Finally the government can combat the market failure by implementing both policy
instruments simultaneously. As explored in section 4.3, the simultaneously optimality
solutions will most likely entail that the optimal levels are set lower than in the simplified
solution. This is due to the government counteracts the failures on two fronts, by offering a
subsidy (a carrot) and threatening the consumers with a fine (a whip). By using both policy
instruments simultaneously it is possible that the authorities can obtain a market equilibrium
similar to that of perfect competition, where production is social optimal and piracy is viewed
as welfare damaging. The effects facing the consumer will then be an increase in utility by
offering the information good at a lower price, which is offset by an increase in the fine that
raises the disutility of being caught. As the proportion of illegal consumption decreases, the
firm will be able to use its market powers to raise output price closer to monopoly levels. At
the same time as the firm raises the output price it will increase production to face the
increased demand caused by the subsidy. The effect of the government’s interaction may in
the end be to raise social welfare as both the firm and consumer are (arguably) made be better
of than before.40
40
It is important to note that this has not been proven in the text as the size of the consumer surplus and social
welfare has not been computed.
23
6. Summary and Conclusion
The purpose of this study was to provide a theoretical model on how a government could use
policy instruments to minimize losses on a market influenced by piracy (incomplete market),
and at the same time correct the behaviour of a monopoly firm (monopoly pricing and welfare
loss from monopoly). This was done by the defining and characterizing the actors in chapter
3. All consumers were normalized to one, and the demand for the legal and illegal good was
determined. Due to the fact that the illegal consumption included an aspect on uncertainty, the
consumer utility was defined by an expected utility function, where the probability of being
caught (or not caught) influenced the consumer’s behaviour. The firm was assumed to be a
profit-maximizing monopolist, but where some proportion of revenue was lost to piracy. By
using this notion, it was possible to determine the marginal damage of piracy, which stated
the adverse effects piracy had on the firm’s profit function. The government could then use
the expected utility function of the consumer and the profit function of the firm to construct a
utilitarian welfare function, which was then used to construct a Lagrange function, subject to
the authorities budget constraint. By using the government’s Lagrange function it was
possible to obtain first order conditions following a change in the sales tax, fine, probability
of being caught, and two types of lump-sum transfers. From these first order conditions it was
then possible to extrapolate expressions for optimal policy instruments.
The optimal fine was determined to be greater than zero, however the use of a fine on a
market with two types of market failures was argued to produce a suboptimal solution. This
was due to the fact that the fine was unable to correct the behaviour of the monopolist, and the
government would thus rely on market to adjust itself to a stable equilibrium.41
The optimal sales tax (subsidy) was on the other hand able to correct both market failures and
had the potential of raise social welfare. However, it was possible that the use of the subsidy
scheme did not provide adequate incentive for the consumer to decrease illegal consumption
to a more desirable level.42
By introducing both policy instruments simultaneously, the
government could correct the behaviour of the agents and (possibly) reach an equilibrium
similar to that of perfect competition.
41
Where a stable equilibrium in this case referred to the scenario when the firm does not inflict any substantial
losses on society and piracy does not jeopardize the existence of the market or the variety of goods produced. 42
As the marginal opportunity cost of piracy was assumed to approach zero.
24
6.1 Suggestions for future studies
By adding a preference parameter to the consumer demand, as done in Belleflamme, a model
depicting a more realistic market would emerge. The preference parameter would allow the
model to accommodate the notion that all piracy is not revenue damage, a notion that was
empirically observed by Rob and Waldfogel, and theoretically modelled (in another context)
by Piolatto and Schuett. The problem of setting an optimal policy tools would be complicated
further, but the model would provide an interesting foundation for further discussion of the
subject. It is also possible to add the notion that the firm can affect the initial cost of pirating,
as explored by Banerjee, Banerjee and Raychaudhuri, and Harbaugh and Khemka, by
investing in anti-copying technology. Where it is possible to argue that such an addition
would have implications for the firm, the government, and the pirating consumer.
25
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28
Appendix 1 Expected utility:
[ ] ( ) [( ) ( )]
( ( )) [( ) ( ) ]
Budget constraint caught ( )
Budget constraint not caught ( )
Rearranging [ ] ( ) [( ) ( ) ( )]
( ( )) [( ) ( ) ( ) ]
Profit function ( )
Government budget constraint ( ) ( )
Consumer: FOC w.r.t. x
[ ]
( ) ( ( ) ( ( ) ) (
))
( ( )) ( ( ) ( ( )) (
) ( ))
FOC w.r.t. a
[ ]
( ) ( ( ) ( ) (
))
( ( )) ( ( ) ( ) (
) ( ))
( ( ) ). ( ( ) ) Firm:
( ( ) ) ( ( ) ( ) ) ( ( ) ) FOC w.r.t. x
( ) ( )
29
Government Lagrange function
[ ] [ ( ) ( ) ] Differentiate with respect to t, the sales tax
( ) ( (( )
)
( ( ) ( )
)
(
))
( ( ))( (( )
)
( ( ) ( )
)
(
) (
))
Rearranging
(( ( )( ( ) ( ( ) ) (
))
( ( )) ( ( ) ( ( )) (
) ( )))
( ( )( ( ) ( ) (
))
( ( )) ( ( ) ( ( ) ) (
) ( )))
( ) ( ( ) ) ( ( )) ( ( ) ))
Sums to: (( ) )
Firms profit:
( )
( ) ( ( ) )
Sums to:
( )
Government Constraint:
30
[( ) ( )
( )
( )
]
Summing expressions:
(( ) )
( )
[( ) ( )
( )
( )
]
Differentiate with respect to T, the increased fine
( )( (( )
)
( ( )
)
(
))
( ( ))( (( )
)
( ( )
) (
)
(
))
31
Rearranging
(
( ( )( ( ) ( ( ) ) (
))
( ( ))( (( )
) ( ( )) (
)
( )))
( ( )( ( ) ( ) (
))
( ( ))( ( ) ( ) (
) ( )))
( ) ( )
)
( ) ( )
( )
( ) ( ( ) )
( )
[ ( )
( ) ( )
( )
]
Sums to:
( ) ( )
( )
[ ( )
( ) ( )
( )
]
I
32
ncreasing the likelihood of being caught
(
( )
( )
( )( (( )
)
( ( )
) (
))
( ( ))( (( )
)
( ( )
)
(
) (
)))
Rearranging
( ( )( ( ) ( ( ) ) (
))
( ( ))( ( ) ( ( )) (
) ( ))
( )( ( ) ( ) (
))
( ( ))( ( ) ( ) (
) ( ))
( )
( ))
( )
( )
( )
( ) ( ( ) )
( )
33
[ ( )
( )
( )
]
( )
( )
( )
[ ( )
( )
( )
]
Lump-sum transfer consumer
( )
( (( )
)
( ( )
)
(
)) ( ( ))
( (( )
)
( ( )
)
(
) (
))
( )
( )
( ) ( ( ) )
( )
[ ( )
( )
( )
]
34
( )
( )
[ ( )
( )
( )
]
Lump-sum firm
[ ]
Appendix 2
For T=0.
[ ] [ ( ) ]
(( ) )
( )
[( ) ( )
]
( )
( )
[ ( )
]
( )
(( ) )
( )
( )
[ ( )
] ( )
( )
(( ) )
( )
[( ) ( )
]
( (( ) )
( )
( )
[ ( )
] ( ) )
35
( )
( )
( )
( ( )) [
( ) ]
( ) [
( ) ]
(
( ) ) (
( ) ) ( )
( ) [
( )
]
[
( )
]((
)
( ) )
Signing:
⏟
[
( )
]⏟
((
)
⏟
( )
⏟
⏞
)
For t=0
[ ] [ ( ) ]
( ) ( )
( )
[ ( ) ( )
( )
]
( )
( )
[ ( )
( )
]
( ) ( )
( ) ( ) ( )
( ) ( )
[ ( )
( )
]
( ) ( )
36
( ) ( )
( ) ( )
( )
[ ( ) ( )
( )
]
( ( ) ( ) ( )
( ) ( )
[ ( )
( )
] ( ) ( ))
( ) ( )
( )
( )
[ ( ) ( )
( )
]
[ ( )
( )
] ( ) ( )
[
( )
] ( ) [
( )
]
( ( ) ) [
( )
]
( ( ) ) [
( )
]
( )
( ( ) ) [
]
(
( ) [
]) ((
)
( ) )
Signing:
Assumption
⏟
(
( ) [
]⏟
)
((
)
⏞
( )
⏞
)
37
Appendix 3 Solve for the sales tax
( )
(( ) )
( )
( )
[ ( )
( )
( )
]
( )
( ) (( ) )
( )
[( ) ( )
( )
( )
]
(
(( ) )
( )
( )
[ ( )
( )
( )
]
( )
)
( )
( )
( )
( )
( ( )
( )
( )
( ) ( )
( ) )
(
( )
( ) ( )
)
38
[
( ) ] [
( ) ] ( )
( ( ) ) [
( ) ]
( ( ) ) [
( ) ]
( ( )) [
( ) ]
( ) [
( ) ]
( ) ( ( ) )
( ( ) )
( ( ))
( )
( ) ( ( ) ) [
]
( ) [
( )
]
[
( )
](
( )
( ( ) ) [
])
Solve for fine: Multiply the lump-sum function with ( ) ( )
( ) ( )
( ) ( ) ( )
( ) ( )
[ ( )
( )
( )
]
( )( )
39
( ) ( )
( ) ( )
( )
[ ( )
( ) ( )
( )
]
(
( ) ( ) ( )
( ) ( )
[ ( )
( )
( )
]
( )( )
)
( ) ( )
( )
( ) ( )
( )
[ ( )
( ) ( )
( )
]
[ ( ) ( )
( )
( )
( )
( ) ( )
]
( ) [
( )
] [
( )
] ( )
( ( )) [
( )
]
( ) [
( )
]
( ( ) ) [
( )
]
( ( ) ) [
( )
]
( ) ( ) [
( )
]
( ( ) ) [
]
40
(
( ) [
])
(
( ) [
( )
])
Setting up the Matrix
( ) ( ) [
( )
]
( ( ) ) [
]
( ) ( ) [
( )
]
( ( ) ) [
]
[[
( )
] [
]
[
( )
] [
]
] [( )
( ( ) )]
[
( )
( )
]
| | ([
( )
] [
]
[
] [
( )
])
Solve for t
( )
|
( ) [
]
( ) [
]|
| |
( )
(
( ) ) [
] (
( ) ) [
]
| |
(
( ) ) [
] (
( ) ) [
]
([
( )
] [
] [
] [
( )
])