Commons-Oriented Economists

Introduction

In October/November 2010, the Commons Strategies Group, consisting of David Bollier, Silke Helfrich, Bea Busaniche and myself (Michel Bauwens, under the auspices and with support of the Heinrich Boll Foundation, organized the Berlin Commons Conference, which brought together representatives of physical and digital commons under the shared topic of 'commons-oriented policy-making'.

For 2013, CSG is proposing to organize a follow-up conference, this time on commons-oriented economists.

Below is some preparatory material.

Introduction and Themes

• macro-economic conceptions: how does a commons orientation fits in today's economic approaches

• economy of the physical commons: what can we learn about the governance and economics of local physical commons

• the economy of digital common: what can we learn from the economics governing digital commons

• money and funding as a commons: from local credit commons to transnational monetary reform

• solving the biospheric crisis: preserving and protecting the natural commons

Selected Economists

Macro-Economic Transformations

1. Christian Arnsperger: see, Six Framework Conditions for Global Systemic Change
2. Andrea Fumagalli, Italy, Cognitive Capitalism
3. Wolfgang Hoeschele, geographer at Truman State University, Missouri (Solidarity Economy, commons)
4. James Quilligan, essays on the Global Commons in Kosmos Journal, etc ..
5. Juliette Schor, author of the book Plenitude

Alternative Economic Models

1. Alain Caille, MAUSS, France, Gift Economy
2. Kevin Carson, mutualist economics centered around distributed manufacturing

The Economics of the Physical Commons

1. Peter Barnes [1], Pt. Reyes Station, California (former entrepreneur; commons; Sky Trust) *
2. Elinor Ostrom [2], Arizona State & Indiana U. (commons; not an economist, but she might as well be)

The Economics of the Digital Commons

1. Philippe Aigrain, free culture, IP and filesharing economics
2. Yochai Benkler [3], Harvard Law School (digital commons; not an economist, but he might as well be)

The Financial and Credit Commons

1. Ellen Brown, reforming finance
2. Thomas Greco, instituting Credit Commons
3. Hazel Henderson, Ethical Markets

Protecting the Natural Commons

1. James Boyce, UMass Amherst (ecological economics)
2. Herman Daly, steady-state economics
3. Josh Farley, U. of Vermont (ecological economics, community development)
4. Mark Whitaker, Toward a Bioregional State (bk), combines Commodity Ecology and the Civic Democratic Instititutions of the Bioregional State form, for longterm protection of the watershed nature commons.

Justice and Equity in the Commons

1. Riane Eisler, (suggested by Nancy Roof), on dominator vs partnership economies
2. Nancy Folbre, UMass Amherst (feminist economics/caring economy)
3. Tom Walker: Towards a Labor Commons through Social Accounting, through seeing Employment as a Common Pool Resource

Human Economic Behaviour/Psychology and the Commons

1. Manfred Max-Neef, Chilean ecological economist; for his work on 'fundamental human needs'; Book: From an Economics of Power and Greed to an Economics of Compassion and the Common Good‎

Directory

A list originally compiled by David Bollier:

1. Sam Bowles, Santa Fe Institute (economics as seen through complexity theory & evolutionary sciences)
2. Eric Britton [4], urban transportation economist
3. Padmasiri de Silva, Monash, Melbourne (Buddhist economics)
4. Peter Daniels. Griffith, Brisbane (Buddhist economics)
5. Gerald Epstein, UMass Amherst (cooperatives)
6. Ian Fletcher, author of "Free Trade Doesn't Work: What Should Replace It and Why" (http://www.freetradedoesntwork.com/). [5]
7. Katherine Gibson, Australia (community economics; former writing partner with the late Julie Graham, a.k.a., J.-K. Gibson-Graham)
8. Friederike Habermann. Silke Helfrich writes: "ecommonist, rather than an economist; Actually she frames the world we are all struggling for as Ecommony."
9. Richard Heinberg, a Senior Fellow of the Post Carbon Institute (ecological economist, commons orientation?)
10. Warren Johnson, frugality [6]
11. David Korten, author
12. Julie Matthaei - wolfgang Hoechsele writes: "she's a feminist economist, involved in the US Solidarity Economy Network. I don't think she's published on the commons per se but she is definitely supportiveof the approach." (jmatthaei@wellesley.edu)
13. Yann Moulier-Boutang, distributed taxation, Cognitive Capitalism
14. Antonio Negri [7] and Michael Hardt, authors of Commonwealth. George Por writes: "They are not economists in an economistic sense but the book is excellent, in the best traditions of political economy. Their analysis refines and goes beyond the triangular model of public, private, and commons sphere, so popular currently in the commons movement."
15. Richard Norgaard, UC Berkeley
16. Apichai Puntasen, Thailand, Buddhist Economics
17. Wolfgang Sachs, Wuppertal Institute, Germany
18. Marilyn Waring, New Zealand: "If Women Counted". This feminist analysis of modern economics reveals how economic theory automatically excludes women's housework, caring of the young, sick and the old from value of people. Waring later produced a documentary on the same topic, Who's Counting.

See also:

1. Robert Costanza, U. of Oregon (a leading ecological economist; not sure of commons-orientation)

Organisations:

1. Association for Georgist Studies (the Henry George crowd)
2. Green Economics Institute in England [8]; Wolfgang Hoechsele writes: "they are very much interested in social and environmental justice. The directors of the institute are Miriam Kennet (contact at Miriam Kennet <greeneconomicsinstitute@yahoo.com> and Volker Heinemann); they could probably suggest further economists

supportive of the commons.

1. New Economics Institute, U.S.A.: E.F. Schumacher Foundation spinoff with ties to New Economics Foundation in UK, which aspires to develop alternative economic approaches.

Commons-Oriented Thinkers

1. Iain Boal [9]
2. George Caffentzis [10]
3. Peter Linebaugh, commons historian
4. Raj Patel [11]

Historical:

1. Gerrard Winstanley [12]

To add later

• Thanks to the work of a small, brave group of dissident economists — scholars like Ralph Gomory, William Baumol, Erik Reinert, and Ha-Joon Chang — the credibility of free trade as a theoretical doctrine is crumbling, and the discipline will eventually change its mind.