Data is the new money

Reinventing Capitalism in the Age of Big Data. Our economy is entering a new era with a new form of capitalism in which data are not only worth a lot of money, but will also replace it. That is the claim of Viktor Mayer-Schönberger in his book Reinventing Capitalism in the Age of Big Data. What is the origin of prosperity and how is it distributed? In the nineteenth century, Karl Marx tried to answer these questions in Capital. Mayer-Schönberger deals with exactly the same questions but their answers differ completely. Data-driven marketplaces such as Uber, Airbnb and Google will take over our economy and be a threat to traditional banks and multinational corporations. Data will replace money as a means of communication and that will lead to a more equal distribution of prosperity worldwide.