[CoastalCoder]

I'm very naive about economics, but couldn't we go further and say that the money would just be spent somewhere else in that same economy?

[xyst]

Like concerts or merch where the artist or creator gets much more money than through parasitic music labels and film studios?

I agree here. Person finds pirated music by X artist. Decides they really love the artist and in turn buys concert experience or merch.

[TeMPOraL]

It is spent somewhere else by those pirating, because almost everyone lived paycheck to paycheck anyway.