Abstract : I argue that the impact of piracy engines for scholarly content on science depends
on the nature of the research. Social sciences are more likely to reap benefits
from such engines without inflicting much damage on journal publishers’
revenues. To validate the claim, I examine the data from illegal downloads of
economics content from Sci-Hub over a five-month period. I conclude that: (a)
the extent of piracy in economics is not pervasive; (b) downloads mostly occur in
under-developed countries; (c) users pirate even content that is freely available
online. As a result, publishers are n