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Information, organization, and freedom: Explaining the great reversal

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  • Jean-Jacques Rosa
  • Xavier Vanssay

Abstract

We suggest, in a Coase-Demsetz perspective, that the social demand for individual rights—or freedoms (whether civil, political or economic)—is derived from, because complementary to, the changing size of hierarchical organizations. The general downsizing and decentralization process observed worldwide after 1975 is itself the result of the information revolution and the resulting abundance of information. It follows that social demand for freedoms depends in turn—and inversely—on the cost of information (and thus on market imperfection) as well as on traditional determinants such as the distribution of resources and human capital. This implies that freedoms are adopted, implemented, or “produced” by various political regimes according to an objectively observable and contingent determinant. We believe this approach can shed light on the reason for the waxing and waning of freedoms in modern history. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2012

Suggested Citation

  • Jean-Jacques Rosa & Xavier Vanssay, 2012. "Information, organization, and freedom: Explaining the great reversal," The Review of Austrian Economics, Springer;Society for the Development of Austrian Economics, vol. 25(4), pages 329-350, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:revaec:v:25:y:2012:i:4:p:329-350
    DOI: 10.1007/s11138-012-0173-9
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Freedom; Organization; Information; Transaction costs; Decentralization; P51; K00; D20;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • P51 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Comparative Economic Systems - - - Comparative Analysis of Economic Systems
    • K00 - Law and Economics - - General - - - General (including Data Sources and Description)
    • D20 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - General

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