Speech, Spillovers, and the First Amendment
Brett M. Frischmann
Yeshiva University - Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law
University of Chicago Legal Forum, 2008
Many know the marketplace of ideas as a metaphor. Yet, economics may help explain speech and the First Amendment in more than a metaphoric way.
This essay, written for the Law in a Networked World conference hosted by the University of Chicago Legal Forum, explores how the First amendment may operate to sustain a spillover rich networked environment. The essay focuses on (i) the economics of speech externalities and (ii) the functional role of the First Amendment in constraining the government's ability to force or enable actors to internalize externalities associated with their speech. When viewed from an economic perspective, the First Amendment functions as a broad (though not absolute) restriction on the government's choice of actions or interventions with respect to the speech market/environment. The essay suggests that the First Amendment promotes spillovers (positive externalities) and functions more broadly as an institution that sustains a spillover-rich cultural-intellectual environment.
Number of Pages in PDF File: 56
Keywords: speech, communication, spillover, externality, First Amendment
JEL Classification: D62, D80, H1, H40, K00, O34, Z10Accepted Paper Series
Date posted: January 13, 2008 ; Last revised: June 23, 2009
© 2015 Social Science Electronic Publishing, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
This page was processed by apollo4 in 0.359 seconds