Commons Economics
* Essay / Chapter: Commons Economics. By Michel Bauwens, Rok Kranjc, and Mayssam Daboul. Wits University Press, 2024. Chapter 8 of: Digital Capitalism and its Limits. Technotopia, Power and Risk. Edited by Vishwas Satgar, 2024
URL = https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/handle/20.500.12657/101192/1/9781776149445_WEB.pdf#page=160
Description
Vishwas Satgar:
"In chapter 8, Michel Bauwens, Rok Kranjc and Mayssam Daaboul investigate a commons economics framework for emancipatory social relations as the basis of digitaltechnology. They depart from neoclassical and neoliberal economics by recognising that these bodies of thought create scarcity in abundance and, where there is scarcity, tend to create artificial scarcity. Moreover, they argue that the state and market historically have been extractive institutions. At the same time, the world is in a planetary crisis and weakened states are unable to rise to the magnitude and scales of the crisis. In this chapter, they derive from historical and contemporary practices of digital commoning a set of principles for an alternative commons economics framework, which could serve as the basis for commons society and civilisation. In this regard, they highlight the following eight principles for commons economics: it is biophysical; it is about abundance design; it is contributory; the commons is a central human institution; it is based on open collaborative systems; there is a focus on the common good; it has a steady-state temporality; and it is relational."
(https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/handle/20.500.12657/101192/9781776149445_WEB.pdf?sequence=1)
Discussion
"A commons-based economics raises the possibility of experiencing value through the practical relationships that arise among individuals, the resources of the world, and that which exists between people and the world. This challenges the (neo)liberal orthodoxy of Immanuel Kant, who said that the non-empirical nature of metaphysics lies beyond immediate experience, whether external or internal. By revealing the connection between outer and inner experience, which are two completely different sources of knowledge, the commons offer analytic constructs which have previously been neglected, preventing economics from reflecting the real human condition. A commons-based economy arises from where we live and how and what we do. These articles propose a common turn—a theory of value bringing right understanding of the world without having to reach for a final explanation of its existence or rely on some parallel universe of economic abstractions.
The delineation of this common worldview, arising from both outer and inner experience, provides the foundation of a new essentialism in economics and even suggests the outlines of a teleological structure (an emergent stage development sequence in economics will be explored in subsequent articles). It also provides a way of examining the premises of the Market State and understanding how the present social order may be transformed at all levels — local, state, interstate, regional and global—through institutions and policies of shared production and shared governance."