Category:Economics

* See also for more detailed introductory material: Introduction to the P2P Foundation Wiki Material about Economics

Economics is a vast field, (see e.g. Wikipedia: Economics) that has been based on premises that are no longer compatible with the very survival of the planet. The P2P Foundation therefore aims for a re-foundation of economics on different axioms, which we call Commons Economics;

See also below our list of related subdomains that are of particular interest to us and which represent alternatives to mainstream economics.

This category therefore, is for our general material on economics.

Key Quote

Tim Jackson: (2016)

"I have come to believe that building an economy that works is a precise, definable, pragmatic and meaningful task. Enterprise as service, work as participation, investment as a commitment to the future and money as a social good: these four principles provide the foundations for a profound and much-needed transformation of society." [1]

Key Concepts of This Category

Wikipedia suggests that Economics is "the social science that studies the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services." It is centered around the basic concept of scarcity, and the market opportunities that such scarcity creates, and hardly takes into account what it considers as 'externalities', i.e. our planet and the other living beings on which we depend.

The P2P Foundation proposes an alternative economics that is centered around the institution of the Commons, systematically looks for natural and renewable Abundance, and seeks to develop win-win protocols supported by a generative market function and enabling institutions for the common good (the Partner State). We call this process of tranformation, the Commons Transition. Articles in this wiki therefore tend to view established economic theory through the critical perspective of Commons and P2P. We see economic practices not as static but as evolving over time, see Kojin Karatani's work on the Evolution of the Modes of Exchange . In particular, we seen an evolution from the mere view of active consumer, i.e. the Prosumer, to the active Produser, who both produces and uses. I.e. what we call 'commoners' or 'peer producers'.

Useful learning resources

Introductory

• Commons as a Challenge for Classical Economics (International Commons Conference, 2010)
• Radical Implications of a Zero Growth Economy (Ted Trainer, 2011)

• Scope not Scale (Michel Bauwens, 2012)

Deeper Study

• Counter-Economics
• The Political Economy of Peer Production (2005)
• Five Framing Conditions for a Commons-Oriented Economy (2012)
• Cooperative Transitions to a Steady-State Economy (2012)

P2P Foundation Material

• Report: Value in the Commons Economy: Developments in Open and Contributory Value Accounting. By Michel Bauwens and Vasilis Niaros. Heinrich Boll Foundation, 2016. [2]

• The Thermodynamic Efficiencies of Peer Production: research project of the P2P Foundation, in collaboration and under the leadership of the Blaqswan's Collective and others. See the report: PEER TO PEER AND THE COMMONS: A MATTER, ENERGY AND THERMODYNAMIC PERSPECTIVE. By Xavier Rizos and Celine Piques. [3]

• P2P Accounting for Planetary Survival: Towards a P2P Infrastructure for a Socially Just Circular Society. By Michel Bauwens and Alex Pazaitis. Foreword by Kate Raworth. P2P Foundation, June 2019. [4]

Related Categories

(See also below for our sub-categories)

• Our Category: Business is more oriented towards micro-economics.
• Our Category: Sharing gives another perspective from outside mainstream economics.
• Category: ECC2013 Participants included many economists.
• Economics is related to other categories via the Category: Commons Economics
• The Category: Regenerative Approaches is wider, but includes regenerative economics.