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person2000s-present

Yochai Benkler

Disciplines:
law
mathematics/information theory

Summary

Israeli-American legal scholar who developed the theory of commons-based peer production — arguing that networked information production represents a fundamental shift in economic organization.

Core Contribution

The Wealth of Networks: commons-based peer production (Linux, Wikipedia) is a new mode of economic production — not market-based or hierarchical-firm-based but collaborative and distributed. Network freedom: the political and economic freedom enabled by decentralized information infrastructure. The Penguin and the Leviathan: cooperation is more common than competition.

Notable Works & Achievements

The Wealth of Networks

The Penguin and the Leviathan

Historical Influences

Lawrence Lessig Elinor Ostrom

Intellectual Lineage

Information LawPolitical Economy

Contemporaries & Peers

Lawrence Lessig

Minds Influenced

Open Source TheoryPlatform Policy

Intellectual Posterity

Commons-Based Peer Production Theory

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