Reinventing Capitalism in the Age of Big Data

维克托·迈尔-舍恩伯格 / Thomas RamshCITIC Press2018

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Word count
190K words
Chapters
40
ISBN
9787508694313

Tags

Economics and Finance Finance and EconomicsBusiness Decision MakingBusiness ManagementBusiness TrendsPlatform EconomyDigital EconomyBureaucracyEconomic TrendsFinTechBig Data EraDigital Age

Summary

Reinventing Capitalism in the Age of Big Data is a book on economic trends co-authored by Viktor Mayer-Schönberger, author of Big Data, and German financial writer Thomas Ramge. Its original English title is Reinventing Capitalism in the Age of Big Data. The book is built around a central argument: as big data and algorithmic capability advance rapidly, data is taking over part of the informational role once played by prices and money, pushing the economy from "financial capital" toward "data capital." The authors argue that traditional markets compress vast amounts of information into a single "price" signal; efficient though this is, it loses enormous detail. A data-rich market, by contrast, can match supply and demand more finely and identify individual preferences, making transactions fuller and more personalized. From this the authors propose that the winner may not be capital but the market itself: once data even partially replaces money's informational role, financial capital and information intermediaries such as banks will see their position markedly weakened, and banking will face a "perfect storm." The book also discusses changes in corporate organization: data flows automate management decisions further, eroding the advantages of traditional hierarchies, and firms begin introducing market-like management methods such as "internal talent markets" and "teams," even imagining the "company of one." The authors also warn of risks: data concentration may bring monopoly, market concentration, and algorithmic bias, and they propose institutional ideas such as "progressive data-sharing mandates," "taxing with data," and "digital investment advisers." The final chapter returns the question to human beings: technology can help us make better choices, but it cannot replace our responsibility for choosing. The book has ten chapters, with a foreword, a preface to the Chinese edition, and a translator's afterword.

Editor's review

这本书可以看作《大数据时代》的“续篇”，但讨论的重心从技术转向了制度：数据究竟会怎样改写市场、公司和货币的运作方式。作者没有把数据说成“新石油”，而是把它比作润滑剂——它让市场这台机器转得更细、更顺，也因此对以价格为核心的传统市场逻辑和以银行为核心的金融中介构成挑战。 它的价值在于“提出好问题”。从海量数据市场的匹配机制，到企业内部人才市场、单人公司、银行的完美风暴，再到数据集中带来的垄断风险和“用数据缴税”等制度设想，作者把一条从微观组织到宏观分配的链条串了起来。田溯宁、巴曙松、吴伯凡、张明、董希淼等人为中文版撰写了推荐，中文版另有专门序言讨论中国数字经济的实践。 需要说明的是，书中不少判断带有前瞻与推演色彩，个别设想现实中仍有争议或尚未落地。读者不宜把它当作操作手册，而应把它当作一副观察数字经济变化的“框架眼镜”：读的时候不妨对照近年平台经济、人工智能与数据要素市场的新进展，自己判断哪些预测已经应验、哪些还需修正。

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Reading tips

  1. 先读中文版序言与第1章，抓住“从金融资本到数据资本”的主线，再进入后续章节。
  2. 第5～7章涉及公司组织与银行变革，建议结合自身行业经验边读边做笔记，辨别哪些判断已在本行业发生。
  3. 第8～9章的监管与分配议题争议较大，可读完后再回看前言与末章，形成自己的评价。
  4. 可与《大数据时代》以及数据要素、平台经济方面的政策文献对照阅读，补足出版后出现的新进展。

About the publisher

CITIC Press China · Founded in 1988

Founded in 1988 and affiliated with China CITIC Group, CITIC Press focuses on business and economics, social sciences, literature and children's books, with common categories covering social sciences, finance, literature, Eastern philosophy and literary appreciation. Its library holds 91 titles, including Yuval Noah Harari's Sapiens trilogy, Thomas Piketty's Capital in the Twenty-First Century, Wu Xiaobo's Thirty Years of Strife: Chinese Enterprises 1978–2008, Nelly Sachs's The Weight of Butterflies: Selected Poems of Nelly Sachs, as well as New Interpretations of the Analects and Chiang Hsun's lectures on Dream of the Red Chamber. Its authors and translators include Lin Junhong, Ba Shusong, Chen Li and Chang Fen-ling. Overall, the press introduces influential works in finance and social sciences while balancing classic translation and local appreciation in literature and Eastern philosophy, combining academic depth with accessible reading.

Contents

  1. Foreword 1
  2. Foreword 2
  3. Preface to the Chinese Edition
  4. Chapter 1 Reshaping the Market of the Future
  5. Data-Rich Markets Are Quietly Emerging
  6. Data-Rich Markets Reduce the Frequency of Market Failure
  7. A Gold Rush Is Coming
  8. Companies Will Face Severe Challenges
  9. From Financial Capital to Data Capital
  10. A New Market Beyond the Traditional Market
  11. The Pursuit of Individual Fulfillment
  12. Chapter 2 Human Communication and Cooperation
  13. Modes of Communication Affect Human Cooperation
  14. More Efficient Cooperation
  15. Two Opposing Mechanisms
  16. A Transformation Organized by the Market
  17. The Advantages of the Corporate Mechanism Are Coming to an End
  18. Chapter 3 Markets and Money
  19. Information Can Create Markets and Also Destroy Them
  20. More Information Is Better Than Less
  21. Too Much Information Can Also Overwhelm Us
  22. Price Is the Condensation of Information
  23. Money-Based Markets
  24. Breaking Free from the Constraints of Price
  25. Chapter 4 The Revival of Markets
  26. Computer Decisions Are Not Bound by Human Cognitive Limits
  27. Welcoming Data-Rich Markets
  28. Technology Meets Data
  29. Data Ontology and Annotation Strategies
  30. Identifying the Best Individual Preference Match
  31. Matching Algorithms Bring Corporate Competitive Advantage
  32. Matching Will Become a Basic Service
  33. Machine Learning Systems Take the Stage
  34. Adaptive Machine Learning Systems
  35. The Market Reshapes Itself
  36. Application Example: The Market for Love
  37. Keep the Most Important Decision-Making Power in Your Own Hands
  38. Chapter 5 Companies and Control
  39. The Best "Amazon Robots"
  40. Technological Innovation Drives Corporate Innovation

FAQ

这本书和《大数据时代》是什么关系？ 两书作者同为维克托·迈尔-舍恩伯格。《大数据时代》侧重数据技术带来的思维与生活变革，《数据资本时代》则把问题推进到经济制度层面，讨论市场、货币、公司与金融将如何被数据改写，可视为同一作者思路的延续。
“数据资本”在书里是什么意思？ 作者用它描述一种趋势：数据部分承担了过去由价格和货币承担的信息与匹配功能，使市场能更精细地配置资源，经济重心由金融资本转向数据。书中由此讨论银行中介地位下降、公司组织变化等问题。
书里提到的“用数据缴税”是什么主张？ 这是作者在第9章提出的制度设想之一，意在应对数据价值集中于少数企业、劳动报酬占比下降带来的分配问题。它属于探索性建议，并非已落地的政策，读者宜结合现实制度讨论来理解。
没有经济学基础能读懂吗？ 可以。全书以案例与推演为主，术语不算艰深，十章结构清晰。若缺乏基础，可先读中文版序言和第1章，再按兴趣选读公司与银行相关章节，跳过参考文献不影响主线理解。
这本书的数据和案例现在还适用吗？ 中文版出版于2018年，案例与讨论反映的是当时的产业与政策环境。书中的分析框架仍有参考价值，但涉及具体企业、监管与市场数据的内容，需要读者用近年公开信息加以更新和核对。

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About the author

维克托·迈尔-舍恩伯格 Author

Viktor Mayer-Schönberger is the author of the works held in this catalog, with three Chinese editions available: Big Data: A Revolution That Will Transform How We Live, Work, and Think, Delete: The Virtue of Forgetting in the Digital Age, and a three-volume collection titled Read These Three Books to Truly Understand Big Data!. Public information about him is limited, and his nationality, dates of birth and death, and educational background are not clearly established here. Judging from the subject matter of these works, his writing centers on big data and the digital society, discussing the collection, storage, selection, and deletion of data, as well as the impact of datafication on business, finance, and social culture. The books sit at the intersection of computing, finance, and social and cultural writing. His style tends to combine conceptual explanation with case-based discussion, aimed at non-technical readers and focused on extracting key ideas. Through the circulation of these works, he has had a notable influence on Chinese-language readers' understanding of big data issues.

Thomas Ramsh Author

Thomas Ramsh is an author about whom limited public information is available; details such as his nationality and dates of birth and death remain unclear. Judging from the two works held in the collection, Smart Data: How to Mine High-Value Data and The Era of Data Capital, his writing focuses on how data is converted into value in the economic and business spheres, and is often categorized under economics and personal finance, business, and finance. His subjects revolve around the mining, management, and capitalization of data assets, aimed at readers interested in digital transformation and business trends. His style leans toward conceptual explanation and trend analysis, seeking to bring technological topics into a business context. Because verifiable biographical information is limited, an understanding of the author and his work rests mainly on the thematic direction and argumentative angle presented in these two books.