The papers he has discussed thus far, and my own quick survey of the literature, have fundamental flaws. Yet Wilson’s criticism of the Phoenix report (which does rely on the faulty premise that p2p downloads represent lost sales) skips the math and criticizes the authors for not citing others who have shown what they are trying to prove (using a pretty standard model).
From what I skimmed of his other work, he never questions the methodology of any of the papers that have a pro-file sharing conclusion, despite their universal reliance on what I believe to be a terrible instrumental variable, questionable data sets, and (largely) data from the early 2000s when file sharing behavior was much different than it is now (napster anyone?).I applaud the effort, and I agree with his politics on the issue, but this is at best a sloppy analysis that I can’t imagine convert any readers (or policymakers) to our side.