Slices and Lumps

From “lumpy goods” like bridges and highways that are valuable only when complete, to resources and assets that become more useful when artfully subdivided, human well-being depends on assembling useful lumps and carving out useful slices. Challenges of aggregation and division surface in myriad contexts, from hot button issues like conservation and eminent domain to developments in the sharing economy to personal struggles over work, money, time, diet, and exercise. Yet the significance of configuration is often overlooked, leading to missed opportunities for improving our lives. With a technology-fueled entrepreneurial explosion underway that is dividing goods, services, and jobs in novel ways, and as urbanization and environmental threats raise the stakes for assembling resources and cooperation, this is an especially exciting and crucial time to confront questions of slicing and lumping. The future of the city, the workplace, the marketplace, and the environment all turn on matters of configuration, as do the prospects for more effective legal doctrines, for better management of finances and health, and more. This book reveals configuration’s power and potential—as a unifying concept and as a focus of public and private innovation.

Read the introduction and first chapter here: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3440821

De la „bunuri aglomerate”, cum ar fi podurile si autostrazile care sunt valoroase doar atunci cand sunt complete, la resurse si active care devin mai utile atunci cand sunt subdivizate cu indemanare, bunastarea umana depinde de asamblarea unor bulgari utile si de sculptarea feliilor utile. Provocarile de agregare si diviziune apar in numeroase contexte, de la aspecte importante precum conservarea si domeniul eminent pana la evolutiile economiei partajate la luptele personale legate de munca, bani, timp, dieta si exercitii.