The Alchian-Allen Theorem states that when a fixed cost is added
to substitute goods, the more expensive one becomes relatively
less expensive, and so people are likely to increase consumption
of the higher quality good. What does this have to do with the
internet? Everything.  Economist James Oswald explains:   The
harder it is to gain access to cultural elements, the higher the
quality of those elements will be consumed. On the flip side, if
it is easy to access culture, people will prefer to consume
shorter lower quality pieces of culture. In the middle ages,
people had to travel long distances to view concerts, which were
performed by live musicians. Thus, the fixed costs of
consumption were very high. If you bothered to pay a huge amount
of money and time, you might as well view a long complex opera
or symphony. On the flip side, when fixed costs are as low as a
Google search, people prefer short YouTube videos of cats doing
cute things. Don't think that this means that the quality of
culture has gone do