The commodification of knowledge and information

Tomás N. Rotta and Rodrigo A. Teixeira

No 19448, Greenwich Papers in Political Economy from University of Greenwich, Greenwich Political Economy Research Centre

Abstract: In this paper we present an analysis of the commodification of knowledge and information in contemporary capitalism. We provide a consistent account of how information as a commodity effects the workings of both capitalism and of Marxist theory. The first part of the paper critically revisits Marx’s own writings on the commodification of knowledge and how the immaterial labour hypothesis initially interpreted these writings. Based on the new categories knowledge-commodity and knowledge-rent, we then present our own approach in response to the challenges raised by the immaterial labour hypothesis. Lastly, we analyse the more recent contributions on the commodification of knowledge and information within the Marxist literature. The current debate on the value of knowledge has been divided between two camps: the reproduction cost approach, and the average cost approach. At the end of the paper we present empirical estimates of the magnitudes of knowledge-rents.

Keywords: Knowledge-commodities; knowledge-rents; value theory; Marx; immaterial labor (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: B51 L00 O30 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018-03-13
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-his, nep-hme, nep-knm and nep-pke
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gpe:wpaper:19448

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