Philippe Aigrain on Informational Capitalism

* Article: Philippe Aigrain, Le capitalisme informationnel : modes d’analyse et de régulation. Introductory conference to the conference cycle organized by the Temps Nouveaux foundation on the Economy of the Information and Knowledge Society, 6 Dec. 2005

URL = http://paigrain.debatpublic.net/docs/pha-tn-capinfo.pdf

Summary

From the Reading Notes of Michel Bauwens, 2006:

Aigrain distinguishes two different interpretations of 'informational capitalism':

- 1) those who see it as a phase of capitalism (Castells, Gorz)

- 2) those who see it as one of the tendencies within it

PA is against economistic interpretations.

- For example, though agriculture only represents 2% of GDP and 5% of the workforce (EU), one hundred percent of the people are still eating and the total domination by the agro-industrial model is still being resisted.

The key to the higher profitability of the info sector is "the intensity and the globality of its monopoly on the reproduction of information". The higher profitability of the sector then leads to imitation strategies which can be very destructive, see for example the Enron case.

There are structural weaknesses involved in this transition:

- 1) the artificial nature of these monopolies

- 2) the innovation-restrictive nature of IP

- 3) the necessary universalisation is sometimes difficult to achieve (piracy)

Aigrain proposes a double strategy:

- 1) de-solvabilisation of those forces relying on artificial monopolies

- 2) solvabilisation of strategies based on common goods

Four Strategies for the 'Solvabilisation' of Common Goods

But how to achieve this 'solvabilisation' ? Philippe Aigrain proposes FOUR STRATEGIES:

   - I. Recognition of common goods as positive rights
   - II. Refusing formats which prohibit the constitution of common goods
   - III. Pragmatic approaches for the rest of the IP universe (limited duration, etc...)
   - IV. Reconstruction of the political control on the speciaized agencies

Two poles for financing: investment vs fiscal measures

- INVESTMENT Private investment >< general public financing without control (i.e. through universal wage)

However, there are many intermediary forms:

   - 1) The financing of particular institutions with a mandate to produce common goods
   - 2) the financing  of particular forms of activity (the 'intermittent' model in France)
   - 3) the financing of particular projects chosen by peer selection
   - 4) fiscal incentives for the creation of common goods

- FISCAL MEASURES

   - 1) the taxation of informational capitalism
   - 2) global license taxation