The Economy for Common Good: Oxymoron or the Future?

Zero-marginal cost is an eye-glazing economic term but is also the equivalent to a real-life unicorn and here is why.

Let’s say I just bought a new house in a hip neighborhood. To avoid being skipped on the block’s vegan, progressive dinner — I purchase solar panels.

I spend $12,000 on my solar panels and outfitting my house. I’ll pay that off in about 3–8 years. That’s my fixed-cost.

By the end of the month (ideally) my energy bill is Free.99. I don’t pay a thing. That is zero-marginal cost. Essentially, I do not have to spend more to receive this resource. I payed a fixed-price (my solar panels) and now I am living in the free zone.

Technically, our current power grid is not conducive for my electricity bill to be zero. If it’s a cloudy day, or any other factor leads me to not capture enough solar energy, I will have to get my electricity the old fashioned, planet killing way.

But that’s where the Economy of the Collaborative Commons and it’s tech soulmate the Internet of Things come in. Someday, I will be able to borrow solar-powered kilowatts from my neighbor — like a cup of sugar.

As more and more businesses, private homeowners, and schools install solar panels we will create a shared network of power. An electricity co-op.

If I produce a surplus it goes to the deficit. Same for everyone else. We are sharing resources that we paid nothing for (disregarding the fixed-cost).

This economic system allows us to cooperate and share resources with a near zero-marginal cost. This is better for people and the environment and it’s already happening.

Michel Bauwens, a peer-to-peer theorist, works with researchers on this idea of a Collaborative Commons.

He says cooperation produces surplus.

“Community-based projects contribute to the commons. The cooperation produces a surplus. We can make a living from that surplus of the commons that is generative, not extractive, and that returns value to the commons.― Michel Bauwens

Is this the New Economy? Kind of.

“The capitalist era is passing . . . not quickly, but inevitably.”
Jeremy Rifkin

The solar electricity co-op is already taking place in place in Europe according to economist Jeremy Rifkin.

“But what if I were to say to you that 25 years from now, the bulk of the energy you use to heat your home and run your appliances, power your business, drive your vehicle, and operate every part of the global economy will likewise be nearly free? That’s already the case for several million early adopters”
Jeremy Rifkin

He discusses how this system, an alternative to capitalism and socialism, is on the way and we should be excited about it. It is immensely beneficial to the environment and those who inhabit it.

Economic systems and positive social change were once two topics that seemed more like a mash-up than a cohesive partnership. Now we may see an alternative option to capitalism that adds value to society as a whole.

Sources:

Illustrations: Kellie Ojeda

Jeremy Rifkin: The Zero Marginal Cost Society, Talks at Google https://youtu.be/5-iDUcETjvo

Russ Grayson: Towards the economy of the commons: an evening with Michel Bauwens https://medium.com/permaculture-3-0/towards-the-economy-of-the-commons-an-evening-with-michel-bauwens-ef58603ac92

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Kellie Ojeda
The New Economy by Parsons School of Design

Director of Programs @ Project Invent // Strategic Designer and Researcher @ Parsons