Are Paywalls Good?

Or are they bad?

There’s been a recent uproar on Substack about paywalls. Friend of the blog Richard Y Chappell has defended them. On the other hand, friend of the shrimp—so also of me—Breaking Bad antagonist, and man who wants to send unicorns to hell, Walter Veit has suggested that “Profitting as an academic,” leads to “the erosion of trust in academic institutions.” So who is right?

Below, I will settle this question. I will also teach you some economics about a weird twilight zone between public goods and normal goods. So if you want to know what I REALLY think about paywalls…