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News :: Political-Economy |
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The Commons: The Other Economy |
Current rating: 0 |
by Friends of the Commons
(No verified email address) |
17 Nov 2003
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Without the commons, we are all the poorer |
Conventional thinking divides the world between the market and the state. The market is responsible for productivity, while the state is responsible for control. In reality, the economy has another sector that's as valuable as the market and its necessary complement as well. This sector is the commons. The commons precedes and surrounds the market, is the source of most that enters it and the sink for all that leaves. At one time the commons was vastly larger than the market. Today, however, the commons is in grave danger because the market relentlessly attacks it. The market assault comes from two sides. With one hand, the market takes valuable stuff from the commons and privatizes it. Historians have called this 'enclosure.' With its other hand, the market dumps wastes and side-effects into the commons and says, 'It's your problem.' Economists call this 'externalizing.' Much that is called 'growth' today is actually a form of cannibalization in which the market diminishes the commons that ultimately sustains it. The state's role is to nurture both the commons and the market, and to maintain a healthy balance between them. This balancing role is essential to prevent humanity from devouring its own nest. Unfortunately, in recent years, the state has abandoned a balancing role and become a single-minded champion of the market.
Report available here:
http://friendsofthecommons.org/stateofcommons0304.pdf |
