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Economics of Personal Data

The Great Data Delusion

19th century doctors believed bloodletting would cure most diseases. Most experts’ claims about the economics of data are just as crazy.
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Alan Mitchell

Why is personal data economically valuable?

Strangely, few people ever say why personal data is economically valuable. You won’t find the answer anywhere but here.
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Alan Mitchell
Is it a bird? A plane? No! It’s super…!

Is it a bird? A plane? No! It’s super…!

The big problem with personal data is not just privacy. Or ‘innovation’. It’s about changing the design of our entire economic system.
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Alan Mitchell

The vital issue people avoid talking about

Why are so many people so determined NOT to take productivity seriously?
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Alan Mitchell
When organisations become waste factories

When organisations become waste factories

Just because organisations want to be efficient doesn’t mean they are. Sometimes, waste is built in to how the system itself works.
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Alan Mitchell

Why are joined up services so difficult to deliver?

A single design flaw makes it almost impossible to deliver genuinely joined up services. Fixing this design flaw would be transformational.
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Alan Mitchell
The Struggle to Connect

The Struggle to Connect

For both individuals and services going to market is eye-wateringly expensive and unsatisfactory. But there is a way to fix it.
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Alan Mitchell
People: The Dark Matter of the Economy

People: The Dark Matter of the Economy

The tasks of ‘life management’. Mostly unseen, unmeasured and ignored by economics. Yet they are the source of a new economic revolution.
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Alan Mitchell
An Engine of Economic Possibilities

An Engine of Economic Possibilities

Empowering individuals with their own data opens up economic possibilities that were previously unthinkable.
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Alan Mitchell
What has data got to do with net zero?

What has data got to do with net zero?

Personal data has got more to do with net zero than you might think
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Alan Mitchell
Google and Facebook: Steam Engines of the Information Age

Google and Facebook: Steam Engines of the Information Age

They may inspire awe. But they are not the future. Here’s why.
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Alan Mitchell
Are Insights Always Good?

Are Insights Always Good?

Fashionable narratives about what data can do are not always what they seem. ‘Big Data’ is a case in point.
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Alan Mitchell
Artificial Intelligence? No. Authentic folly on a grand scale

Artificial Intelligence? No. Authentic folly on a grand scale

AI hype = real world folly: resources squandered while other opportunities are overlooked. Its delusions need challenging.
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Alan Mitchell
Why economists cannot get their heads around personal data

Why economists cannot get their heads around personal data

Mainstream economic theories are blind to what makes personal data economically pivotal. It’s time to do better.
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Alan Mitchell

A Ten Point Personal Data Primer for Policy Makers

Personal data offers immense social and economic opportunities. The big question is, how to unlock them?
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Alan Mitchell
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