Would You Give Up The Internet For 1 Million Dollars?

The number of Internet users worldwide has now surpassed two billion and so many of us have integrated the web into our lives so much that it's hard to quantify how much it's worth to us. But why not give it a shot? Think about it.

How much would someone have to pay you to give up the Internet for the rest of your life?

Would a million dollars be enough? Twenty million? How about a billion dollars?

"When I ask my students this question, they say you couldn't pay me enough," says Professor Michael Cox, director of the O'Neil Center for Global Markets and Freedom at Southern Methodist University's Cox School of Business.

The free market, says Cox, creates a huge gap between what consumers would be willing to pay for Internet access and how much it actually costs.

It's cheap to get online and getting cheaper all the time. We see the same pattern with many other products. Take the cell phone. When it first arrived in the 1980s, the cell phone had no apps, no music, and no Internet access--it was pretty much a brick with buttons. Yet that brick cost about $4,000, and that's why only the super rich could afford them (think Gordon Gekko in Wall Street). Today, it takes only about 40 bucks to walk home with an iPhone.

Turns out capitalism has its own built in welfare transfer system.

"When a new product comes out we all get in line for it," says Cox. "The wealthiest people are in the front of the line and they pay the highest price for the worst version of a product." Real life Gordon Gekkos buy the products when they're expensive, and that lets the rest of us enjoy the cheaper, better versions.

Even in a lousy economy we all enjoy things, from smart phones to aspirin to air conditioning, that weren't available to the world's wealthiest people just a short while ago. And if we have access to something like the Internet, something that's worth so much to us, we just might be richer than we realize.

CREDITS:

Presented by The Fund for American Studies (TFAS)

Special thanks to Mr. Robert Hoffman.

[BryanMorton]

Also notice that the greatest and fastest innovative strides and decreases in price are in the least regulated industries. Regulation, taxation, professional and business licensing all serve to monopolize goods and services, limiting consumer choice, increasing costs and decreasing quality and quantity.

[WideWorldOfWisdom]

"Every innovation makes its appearance as a luxury of the few well-to-do. After industry has become aware of it, the luxury then becomes a necessity for all."

-Ludwig von Mises

[Technoguy]

Would I give up the Internet for $1 million? Hell no.

[tyro]

Aspirin AKA acetylsalicylic acid, has been around for several thousand years. The Chinese even used it in the BC It was a simple brew of tree bark (that tasted awful) but was really acetylsalicylic acid did what aspirin does today. Lessen or removed pain, lower body temps due to illnesses and it even helped fight infections. Just like our modern pill Aspirin.

[DanDascalescu-dandv]

While private sector plays a huge role in innovation, government plays a very important role in standardization. Think of all the different phone chargers, which are incompatible with each other. That's a pointless situation for the consumer. But the European Commission is getting ready to force all mobile phone companies to use a single connector on their chargers, in order to eliminate the mountains of e-waste generated by switching chargers every time you switch phones.

[Chilililabombwe]

very good - finally, someone realizing that even a low income person in the USA is waaay better off than Africa for example.

[xfmrogers]

I don't own a cellphone with fancy apps and never did. I don't plan to own one in the future either. Giving up the internet wouldn't be too much of a problem. With that kind of money I could buy myself a big parcel of land and try to grow my own vegetables, build some mountain bike trails in the woods, buy some old cars to restore them or sell the parts. There are a lot of things to get busy. It beats going to work just for the internet. But still.. giving up on YT and my subs would be tough!

[NRF]

I think the internet gives us a sense of control of our lives...sometiems we may have horrible bosses, or a video game might screw up and make you pissed, or you hate your friend...but when you're on teh computer, EVERYTHING is at peace again and you can enjoy your life while reseraching and watching yotuube videos.

[NaryAWhisper]

2. If everyone thought the internet was worth $1M dollars, this is the price we would all pay. It's cheaper because some suppliers recognized that they could gain additional consumers by reducing the price (stealing from competitors, or increasing the market size). Thus, the price goes down and the "rich" pay less. This movie has it backwards: it's the marginal consumer (the "poor") who incent producers to reduce prices and the rich that benefit from it....

[JackassWhiteDude]

The ironic thing here is that this video wouldn't exist without the internet.

[drdestructodome]

The government was the sole customer for computer chips for their first decade. So its essentially the same private industry argument, but with govmt subsidies... sort of how things work now.

[Steakexe]

Every morning, I wake up to the morning radio and can check my Youtube subscriptions thanks to my Apple iPad™ 2's many wonderful apps. Product placement ftw.

[dawnstar]

There is a magnificent poetry to society when you step back and look at it...and realise that the billions of billions of interactions are not and cannot be planned by any one person. Unfortunately there seems to be a distaste for beautiful things in the world. :(

[DanDascalescu-dandv]

@luftwaffle I'm not advocating that government *devise* standards, but that government incentivize or even force corporations to agree on a standard, whatever that standard the corporations or consumer demand decides to be. But the idea is to give a deadline. Another example is the mandatory reduction in gas consumption that forced automakers to improve the MPG of their cars. Government didn't design the cars, they just imposed the regulation, which automakers+Big Oil had little incentive to do

[DMettio]

@Tuhljin The fact that I'm skeptic and use a harsh language to dismiss the argument does not necessarily implies that I'm "A brainwashed drone", "unreachable", "indoctrinated " and so on.
Early Adapters pays the extra so that the middle class can save money is same as saying Ferrari drivers make the other cars cheaper, No they dont! Early adapter pays the price for having it first.Many technologies exist now that are just too expensive to be in mainstream.Early adapter don't finance R&D.

[UnknownXV]

I don't think I would honestly, even if I was a billionaire, the internet is such an immeasurably powerful tool for knowledge and entertainment... I'm not sure I could ever give it up now that I've been using it so much.

[newuser]

Nice of the wealthiest to so selflessly give in to the temptation of buying up the latest cool shit to play with so the little people can enjoy the same feeling 5 years later....heartwarming.

[RonaldeRobinson]

Brilliant and thought provocative question from the Fund for American Studies. We are again reminded what free markets accomplish for us. BTW, why don't our colleges have more professors who share these ideas?

[tgetherwiththeworld]

I'd drop the internet in a heartbeat for 1 million dollars.

[Jeff_Loveness]

What a delightful host. She should be in more videos