The wealth of networks how social production transforms markets and freedom - Benkler, Yochai (Yale University Press, 2006)
Includes bibliographical references (p. 475-490) and index
Introduction: a moment of opportunity and challenge -- The networked information economy -- Some basic economics of information production and innovation -- Peer production and sharing -- The economics of social production -- The political economy of property and commons -- Individual freedom: autonomy, information, and law -- Political freedom part 1: the trouble with mass media -- Political freedom part 2: emergence of the networked public sphere -- Cultural freedom: a culture both plastic and critical -- Justice and development -- Social ties: networking together -- Policies of freedom at a moment of transformation -- The battle over the institutional ecology of the digital environment -- Conclusion: the stakes of information law and policy
Production is shifting from physical products like blue jeans, to decentralized information goods, like articles on the Internet. This gives users more power (they can publish instead of just reading), creates more opportunities for democratic participation, lowers costs for developing countries, and democratizes the creation of our culture. This book analyzes these changes by looking at what new technologies make easy, applying an individualist economic model, and examining the effects on human beings. As the state's role has largely been to support big companies, this book will largely ignore it, even though it could be used as a force for good