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Re: [ox-en] verzola on abundance



Hi Stefan et al,

Verzola contributed another version of this argument to a special
issue of IRIE, I also picked up on his approach in my own essay.

http://www.i-r-i-e.net/issue11.htm

best,

Soenke

2010/7/6 Stefan Merten <smerten oekonux.de>:
Hi list!

I remembered this post from Graham fitting well into the discussion on
scarcity, limitedness, etc.

20 months (603 days) ago graham wrote:
Roberto Verzola has a new paper about managing abundance on:

http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1160044

(although it looks like only an abstract, you can download the whole
thing from that page.)

Haven't read it all yet, but generally Verzola's writings are quite
relevant to oekonux

I read the important parts and can only agree. Really a nice paper. I
also added him as a possible speaker on the 5th Oekonux Conference.

Here are some quotes on the scarcity topic:

 Looking more closely at the logic of business firms, it is obvious
 that the immediate effect of restricting abundance is to reduce
 supply and increase overall demand. These in turn raise prices or
 keep their levels high. If the costs of production change little or
 not at all and prices go up, then profits go up. This is the logic
 behind corporate efforts to develop technologies and influence State
 policies that give them closer control over the abundance and
 scarcity of goods: to create the best conditions for maximizing
 profits.

 [...]

 Shouldn't this selfish end give way to higher societal goals? The
 economist's answer is that society's higher goals are indeed served
 when everyone pursues their own selfinterest in free competition
 with others. In fact, economists argue, the competitive pursuit of
 individual gain accomplishes overall social goals *better*, even if
 this "was no part of his intention," than when individuals
 consciously try to advance society's higher goals. This idea that
 individual pursuit of selfinterest not only leads to but is actually
 the *best* path towards overall social good became the moral basis for
 capitalist society. This was the programmed into business firms as
 an "urge" to maximize gain, and they do so by controlling abundance
 and scarcity in their favor. This is the driving force behind
 antiabundance.

 -- p.16 - emphasis in original

I couldn't have said it better :-) .

He also gives some advice. I'm quoting only the headlines here:

 The ultimate goal of any management regime should be to ensure
 against any failure of abundance. The following specific goals are
 suggested:

 1. Make the resource accessible to a greater number of people -
    ideally, to all.

 2. Make sure the resource will last for generations, preferably
    indefinitely.

 3. Build a cascade of abundance.

 4. Develop an ethic that nurtures abundance.

 5. Attain dynamic balance.

 -- p.18ff.

Advice 3 is BTW the way Free Software came into being. It all started
with an editor (Emacs) and an compiler (Gcc).

He also gives some threats:

 1. The current reliance on a nonrenewable energy base.

 2. The linear production processes of the industrial sector.

 3. The unchecked growth of human population.

 4. The unlimited corporate drive for profit.

 -- p.20f.

Of course I think threat 4 is the most important and threat 2 and
threat 1 are closely related to threat 4.


                                               Grüße

                                               Stefan

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