# Think Tank > Austrian Economics / Economic Theory >  The Economics of Coercion

## Xerographica

My comment on: Finding Liberty Between Vulnerability and Coercion by Adam Gurri

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The products at the grocery store arent equally relevant to my reality. Fortunately, I get to pick and choose which products I spend my money on. I have the chance to use my money to let the store know which products are the most important to me. The store offers me, and everyone else, the opportunity to substantially participate in the prioritization process. In other words, the store is a market.

The products (shows/movies) on Netflix arent equally relevant to my reality. Unfortunately, I dont get to pick and choose which products I spend my fees on. I dont have the chance to use my money to let Netflix know which products are the most important to me. Netflix does not offer me, or anyone else, the opportunity to substantially participate in the prioritization process. Netflix is not a market.

Coercion can be defined as preventing people from substantially participating in the prioritization process. With this definition, the government really does not have a monopoly on coercion. Netflix also engages in coercion.

However, the fact of the matter is that hardly anybody wants Netflix to be a market. So the real issue isnt delicately balancing anything. The real issue is figuring out the rules of coercion. When is it beneficial to disregard how relevant things are to peoples reality? When is it beneficial to prevent people from substantially participating in the prioritization process? When does coercion truly make the world a better place for everyone?

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## idiom

Netflix offers a product that is take it or leave it. A lot of people take it because Netflix offers them what they want. Who is Netflix apply to do this without prices, but only extremely precise data about what you watch and for how long, about which poster for a film you prefer among many, which series you abandon, combined with comparsions of millions of people with similar taste to you? I guess we will never know.

On the upside Amazon lets you rent individual films, get Prime and knock yourself out.

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