Knowledge as a Global Common and the Crisis of the Learning Economy

This paper analyzes two interrelated problems characterizing a learning society. On the one hand, there is a tension between the non-rival nature of knowledge and its private appropriation. On the other hand, there is an institutional mismatch between the global public good nature of knowledge and the fragmentation of political power among different nations. We will argue that these two contradictions are a fundamental cause of economic stagnation and of inequality. The excessive monopolization of knowledge decreases the rate of growth but, at the same time, it increases the share of profits and shareholders’ wealth. The discounted rents of privatized knowledge are a clear example of what Joe Stiglitz has aptly named capitaldestructive wealth. Whereas the wealth (of few) increases, knowledge-capital decreases because its available uses are dramatically restricted.