I wish there was such a metric, but have never heard of such. The simplistic formula you give has the benefit of being simple to understand and is based on readily verifiable numbers, but is obviously wildly inaccurate.
I think we have it because it is like other lies that many people still believe, because they are easier:
- that entertainment firms lose millions of dollars to piracy (as if every person grabbing content for free would pay full price if that was their only option)
- that people with a high marginal tax rate on taxable income (U.S.) actually pay that as an effective rate on their total net income
- that carpool (HOV) lane restrictions result in more carpooling, rather than just helping people who would have been together in the car anyway, or not taking a car at all, with or without HOV lanes
I wish there was such a metric, but have never heard of such. The simplistic formula you give has the benefit of being simple to understand and is based on readily verifiable numbers, but is obviously wildly inaccurate.
I think we have it because it is like other lies that many people still believe, because they are easier:
- that entertainment firms lose millions of dollars to piracy (as if every person grabbing content for free would pay full price if that was their only option)
- that people with a high marginal tax rate on taxable income (U.S.) actually pay that as an effective rate on their total net income
- that carpool (HOV) lane restrictions result in more carpooling, rather than just helping people who would have been together in the car anyway, or not taking a car at all, with or without HOV lanes