See this article. Excerpts:
"The commons exists outside the typical definitions of the market and the
state. It is not simply a negative to the market’s positive; it is a
parallel economy that does real work—often the most important work.
Without clean air to breathe, for example, or a common fund of knowledge
to serve as feedstock for invention and the arts, human society would
grind to a halt, as would life itself. Yet the commons is functionally
invisible today. Economists disparage it as a relic of benighted times,
and extol private property rights as the key to human progress. The
media pretty much ignores the commons, except for bits and pieces, and
politicians do as well."
"The conventional economic mind simply cannot acknowledge that there
is more to life – more to an economy – than the market; and that the
growth of the market might mean the diminution of something else. So long as the only choice is between a voracious market and a
regulatory state, we will be stuck in a demoralizing downward spiral. We
need to get , open the windows and let in some fresh air. In particular
we need an economics that embodies the 'we' side of human nature, as a
counterweight to the market’s unrelenting 'me.'”
"A market-based society channels us into the roles of 'owners,' 'workers,' or 'consumers,' and the media follows suit. Either we make
stuff or we buy it – that’s the extent of our permitted economic
function. The commons, by contrast, gives expression to a side of our
natures that is not limited to selling and buying."
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