Christian Bessy and Michel Margairaz eds. Les biens communs en perspectives. Propriété, travail, valeur (XVIIIe-XXIe siècle), Editions de la Sorbonne, 2021

This article presents a book review of Les biens communs en perspectives, edited by Christian Bessy and Michel Margairaz, Editions de la Sorbonne, 2021. The perspectives in the book follow a French institutionalism called the economics of convention (EC). Derived from thick and rich empirical studies based on profound historical and sociological investigations, the book challenges two stylized perspectives of the commons. The first stylized perspective is to view the commons as having already been pooled. The second stylized perspective is to view the commons as residuals, categorized as neither the state, the market, or business firms. The book presents a unique perspective that views the commons as having been formed and reformed by collective actions. From this perspective, the book implies that the reason for the current rash of discussion of the commons is that firms have started to consciously manage, exploit, and foster something collective for profit making. This review examines this EC approach to the commons from the standpoint of an American original institutionalist, John R. Commons. This standpoint highlights how the EC approach to the commons analytically benefits from a double meaning of “common goods.” One meaning refers to common assets accumulated and developed in or established as an institutionalized arrangement of members and objects in a community. The other is a value system shared by the members. This review confirms that both the American original institutionalist and the French institutionalists aim to be pragmatic idealists.