Sharing/Commercial Economy Blog 11

Describe the difference between a sharing and a commercial economy. Why does this distinction matter to Lessig's main argument?

“Sharing Economy of all the possible terms of exchange within a sharing economy, the simgle term that isn’t appropriate is money.  You can demand that a friend spend more time with you, and the relationship is still a friendship.  If you demand that he pay you for the time you spend with him, the relationship is no longer a friendship” (118)

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Some quotes that explain what “sharing economy” is:

 Money in the sharing economy is not just inappropriate; it is poisonous (119).  

“…access to culture is regulated not by price, but by a complex set of social relations” (145).  “relations are insulted by the simplicity of price” (145).

“-the one way in which it cannot be defined is in terms of money” (146). 

“they establish relationships, and draw upon those relationships” (146). 

“Sometimes these motivations are “me-regarding”- the individual participates in the sharing economy because it benefits him or other.” (151).  

Why is important:

“It benefits the community in many different fields: Information about the market, computer resources to make VOIP work better, the network effects from a popular network. The source is shared independent of price” (154).  It helps the community grow and open new windows to new innovation. 

He talks about his examples of open source and shared technologies; “have increased the role of (sharing) production” (176). 

Commercial Economy economy in which money or “price” is a central term of the ordinary, or normal, exchange.  His example:

Local store:

You buy the latest Lovett CD for $18.  The exchange is defined in terms of the price.  This does not mean price is the only term, or even the most important term.  But it does mean that there is nothing peculiar about price being a term.  There’s nothing inappropriate about insisting upon that cash, or making access to the product available only in return for cash (118).  “helping  out? Is not just rare in a commercial economic.  It is downright weird (119).  

Here are some quotes from Lessigt hat explains what a “commercial economy” is:

“Price is how things are negotiated in a commercial economy” (120).

“The business of business is to make money” (120). 

Where we’re not insulted when someone mentions money, where we meter the relationship with price, then we’re within a “commercial economy” (121).

“The market is the engine that drives this commercial economy; if well designed (meaning regulated to protect participants from force of fraud). The market is an extraordinary technology for producing and spreading wealth” (121).

Why is important:

The internet is a commercial economy; “the internet has caused an explosion in the opportunities for business to make money by making old businesses work better” (121).

“Also has made possible new businesses that before the Net weren’t even conceivable” (121).

“….this new bit of social infrastructure offers a staggering potential for growth and innovation” (122).