Our Moral Board · Influence portrait

Building the New Economy

An influence portrait of Alex Pentland, Alexander Lipton, and Thomas Hardjono’s edited work on data as capital, user-centered data ownership, accountable algorithms, and secure digital transactions.

The book gives the Internet of Value concrete design questions about who controls data, how digital infrastructure distributes decision-making, and whether technical systems can strengthen community agency without weakening privacy or accountability.

data as capitaluser-centered data ownershipaccountable algorithmsdigital infrastructureagencyaccountabilityfairness

Influence portrait

An idea can shape a lineage. It cannot hold a human identity.

Provenance

sourced fact

Published by MIT Press and edited by Alex Pentland, Alexander Lipton, and Thomas Hardjono, the book assembles technical and institutional proposals for a data-centered economy.

Building the New Economy: Data as Capital Book review: Building the New Economy

Core ideas

sourced fact

The work treats data as a form of capital and examines user-centered data ownership, data trusts and cooperatives, accountable algorithms, secure transaction systems, distributed ledgers, and interoperability.

Building the New Economy: Data as Capital Building the New Economy: What We Need and How to Get There

Moral themes

editorial interpretation

Its moral center is the distribution of informational power: people and communities should have meaningful agency in systems that derive economic and civic value from their data.

Empowering Communities in the Digital Age: A Dive into Building the New Economy Building the New Economy: Data as Capital Book review: Building the New Economy

Defining influence

editorial interpretation

For Moses, the work helped connect community empowerment with implementable digital structures rather than leaving a new economy at the level of aspiration.

Empowering Communities in the Digital Age: A Dive into Building the New Economy Building the New Economy: Data as Capital Building the New Economy: What We Need and How to Get There

Tensions and critique

editorial interpretation

Technical architectures do not automatically produce fair governance. Data-sharing benefits must be weighed against privacy, institutional capacity, security, exclusion, and the risk that nominal participation masks concentrated control.

Building the New Economy: Data as Capital Book review: Building the New Economy

Relationship to the Internet of Value

editorial interpretation

The book is an adjacent design influence, not protocol authority. It sharpens IoV questions about data rights, accountable computation, community agency, and the governance of digital value infrastructure.

Empowering Communities in the Digital Age: A Dive into Building the New Economy Building the New Economy: Data as Capital Book review: Building the New Economy

Source ledger

Read the evidence directly

gratitude essayEmpowering Communities in the Digital Age: A Dive into Building the New Economy primary sourceBuilding the New Economy: Data as Capital primary sourceBuilding the New Economy: What We Need and How to Get There independent referenceBook review: Building the New Economy

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