Economics and Information: Toward a New (and More Sustainable) Worldview

Abstract

Abstract:
 Mainstream or neoclassical economics assumes a commodity-only status for information, even though information is indivisible, subjective, shared, and intangible, making information quite ill-suited for commodity treatment. Likewise, orthodox economics posits communication as
 comprising merely acts of commodity exchange, thereby ignoring gift relations, dialogic interactions, the cumulative and transformative properties of all informational interchange, and the social or community context within which communicative action takes place. This article draws out implications for human survival of continuing to implement policies based on neoclassical modes of analysis, and touches upon some main features of an alternative, communication-centred worldview, this latter perspective being much more consistent with ecosystem vitality and with human community.
 
 
 Résumé:
 Les courants économiques dominants ou néoclassiques accordent à l'information le statut de strict produit même si, l'information étant indivisible, subjective, partagée, et intangible, elle paraît assez inapte à être traitée comme un produit. De même, les sciences économiques orthodoxes envisagent la communication comme comprenant seulement des actes d'échanges de produits, ignorant ainsi l'échange de cadeaux, les interactions dialogiques, le caractère cumulatif et transformationnel de tout échange informationnel, et le contexte social ou communautaire au sein duquel tout acte de communication a lieu. Cet article discute les implications pour la survie humaine de continuer à mettre en place des politiques fondées sur des modes d'analyse néoclassiques, et relève quelques traits saillants d'une perspective mondiale alternative, centrée sur la communication, cette dernière perspective étant bien plus en harmonie avec la vitalité de l'écosystème et la solidarité humaine.

Economic theory as it applies to public sector information

“…21–22). Thus it is generally agreed, as Babe (1996) observed, there is little or no incremental cost in diffusing information widely.…”

“…Recognizing that information is fundamentally different from other commodities was a major breakthrough in the economics of information according to Stiglitz (2000a, pp. 1448–1449), who suggested that, because purchasers have imperfect information about information, “mechanisms like reputation —which played no role at all in traditional competitive theory—are central.” Babe (1996) concluded that any attempt to commoditize information by restricting access to it through copyright, signal scrambling, or user fees, is economically dubious.…”

Post-Organic Informational Condition: Hypotheses on the Nature and Role of Information in Human Systems

“…Economic theory and practice are directly linked to information growth, as information is merely another form of commodity by which human systems (the society as a whole) perceive and conceive of progress (i.e., organizational change). As Babe (1996) has contended, economic logic is inherently bidirectional, and thus inconsistent with the ecosystem. Automatically, economic logic is a form of communication, and as such, responsive to needs of those who apply it: we see ourselves mostly as consumers and users, working the environment rather than existing with it, and consequently we will effectively continue to shorten the existence of our own species.…”

The micro‐ and macroeconomics of information

“…This change in attitude, however, was slow. As Babe (1996) notes, despite the appearance of key publications on the topic as early as the 1920s by thinkers such as Coase, Knight, and others whose work is discussed later, full attention was not accorded to the economics of information until the 1960s. Not coincidentally, this was the period during which we also began to use the phrase “the information society” to describe the ways in which society was being transformed as a result of new information technologies (Braman, 1993).…”

“…Externalities are intertwined with the economics of information in several ways. First, as Babe (1996) notes, externalities result from, and may even be defined in terms of, inaccurate or incomplete information, as prices are claimed to be sufficient to ensure optimum decision making both for economic agents and for the economy overall with respect to “normal” commodities or activities assumed to have no third‐party effects. Second, for networked economic activities—of growing importance in what many now describe as a “network” rather than an “information” economy—externalities are likely to be as important as, or more important than, transactions themselves.…”