17. Knowledge as a Global Common and the Crisis of the Learning Economy
[chapter]
Ugo Pagano, Martin Guzman
2018
Toward a Just Society
for very useful comments JEL: O34, O15, O16, P14 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
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... 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. 2 Introduction. Almost by definition, a move of knowledge from the public to the private sector increases inequality: everyone has equal rights of access to a public good. By contrast, the privatization of knowledge entails that only the monopolistic owner has full access to it. Increased rents are likely to cause both declining growth and increasing inequality. Knowledge is by far the most important global common of humankind and, since the dawn of human history, its production and accumulation has been the distinctive feature of our species. However, its weight in production processes has greatly increased in recent decades. The roots of the modern knowledge-intensive society can be found in the Enlightenment 1 movement, which formulated the basic values of a liberal and democratic society: "The uber-ideology of the Enlightenment -the questioning of authority, and the belief in meritocracy, the notion that is possible and desirable, the respect extended to science and technology have created preconditions that are favorable to the creation of a learning society and to learning institutions (firms) within our society". (Stiglitz, Greenwald (2014) 11% Kindle version). The increasing privatization of knowledge raises important political and moral issues. Moreover, the fact that learning may generate different competing theories (Elkana 2000) entails that we need procedures and institutions to falsify theories. This has important implications for the organization of a learning society. In this paper, we will focus on the effects that learning has on inequality and development. We will try to analyze two main interrelated problems that characterize 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 nature of the public good that is knowledge and the fragmentation of political power among 1 This view may understate the importance of the many early 'enlightenments' that had occurred in other parts of the world. The Italian Renaaissance, which was accompanied by development of the first universities (Berman 1985) , had given great impetus to natural science. Science and technology were also shining in China during different periods, especially the Song dynasty (Lin 2013). Confucian culture did not block but instead stimulated the advancements of science and technology, and the influence of Confucius on the French Enlightenment (in particular Voltaire) is a well-known early chapter in the history of global cultural interdependencies. However, there is no doubt that the Enlightenment marked an unprecedented acceleration of these processes and a dramatic break with unproven religious beliefs, vindicating the right of humans to learn without constraints and prejudices.
doi:10.7312/guzm18672-018
fatcat:vjrqhampiveg5onirjrprje3xm