CONCEPT
Data as Economic Asset
Coyle's analytical framework for data economics: is data more like oil, air, fish, or wine? Each analogy implies a different economics, and Coyle's conclusion that data exhibits characteristics of all four means no single existing framework is adequate to govern or measure it.
Coyle has framed the digital surplus problem by asking a deceptively simple question: is data more like oil, air, fish, or wine? Each analogy implies a different economics. Oil is rival and depletable — my use diminishes yours. Air is non-rival and non-excludable — a public good that markets systematically underprovide. Fish are rival but renewable — requiring management to prevent depletion. Wine improves with age but requires investment in production. The answer matters because it determines the appropriate regulatory and measurement framework. Her conclusion, developed in her Daedalus essay on socializing data, is that data exhibits characteristics of all four, which means that no single existing framework is adequate.
In The You On AI Field Guide
The framework dissolves the confident analogies that dominate contemporary data policy. 'Data is the new oil' implies rival extraction and scarcity economics — the framework that justifies proprietary ownership and