Democratisation of Economic Research and Policy by Building a Knowledge Commons: Inspiration from Cooperatives

Abstract

We argue that the virtual reality of homo economicus dominates our economic theories and policies, producing inefficient and unjust outcomes and thus leading to wasteful use or/and unequal distribution of resources. Thus we believe there is need to incorporate substantive aspects of human life and well-being as well as to embrace the plurality of people’s values, priorities and rationalities. To this end, we propose the democratisation of economic research and policy by building a knowledge commons and drawing inspiration from cooperatives. We begin our analysis by envisioning knowledge as a commons where all interested parties within science and society participate and deliberate on the basis of democratic principles and practices. To concretise our arguments, we introduce the historical example of cooperatives, which can play a prefigurative and transformational role by fostering democratic participation, redistribution and reciprocity. We describe specific ways in which these alternative economies can inspire economists to democratise research and policy.

Keywords:

• democracy
• knowledge commons
• cooperatives
• civil society

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to express their gratitude to George DeMartino and two anonymous referees for their constructive comments. They would also like to thank participants of the joint session organised by the Association for Social Economics and the Association for Evolutionary Economics at the 2018 ASSA meetings held in Philadelphia, PA, USA.

Notes

¹ Knowledge is generally defined as intangible human resources, consisting of intelligible ideas, thoughts, data and information, discovered or to be discovered, and expressed or obtained in whatever form (including scientific or digital form), by means of personal and social processes.

² Civil society is generally identified with the sphere of non-governmental, not-for-profit and self-governing organisations, which potentially contribute to participatory democracy by generating social awareness, mobilising groups and educating citizens in voicing their concerns and pursuing social values and objectives.

³ See, for instance, https://www.participatorybudgeting.org/; https://www.citizenlab.co/blog/civic-engagement/steps-to-effective-participatory-budgeting/.

⁴ This would include schools and universities, or the more modern spaces of innovation hubs and digital networks.