CONCEPT
Abundance Economics
The analytical framework that replaces scarcity economics when marginal production cost approaches zero: value migrates from the product itself to the scarce complements — data, trust, attention, judgment, curation.
Abundance Economics is the body of economic reasoning required when the classical assumption of scarcity no longer holds. When the marginal cost of producing an additional unit of a good approaches zero — as it does for digital content, software, and now AI-generated output — the pricing, competitive dynamics, and value-capture patterns that scarcity economics predicts break down. In their place emerges a different logic: value migrates to the layers adjacent to the abundant product, where scarcity still operates. Attention becomes scarce when content is abundant. Trust becomes scarce when production is easy. Judgment becomes scarce when execution commoditizes.
In The You On AI Field Guide
The framework is implicit across Anderson's three major books. The Long Tail described what happens to distribution when inventory becomes abundant. Free described what happens to pricing when marginal cost approaches zero. Makers described what happens to production when fabrication tools become accessible. Each book examined a different dimension of the same underlying transition from scarcity-based to abundance-based economics.