In this hybrid research seminar on Wednesday, November 04, 2026, at 12:00 h, we will have Maria Savona, who will present her research titled "Rent and Surplus Value in the Data Economy: Implications for Data Governance".
Abstract:
Data are costly to collect and process, but can be reproduced and used by multiple firms at little additional cost. Exclusive control over access to data can nevertheless generate rent. We examine this relationship within a Marxian framework that treats data as capital, as a means of organising production, and as an asset from which rent can be appropriated. Drawing on Marx's theory of ground rent, we distinguish productive advantages derived from data from the appropriation of surplus through restricted access. Using EUKLEMS-Intan industry accounts for 1995–2020, we find that higher data intensity is associated with a greater organic composition of capital and a lower measured profit rate, but no robust increase in the rate of surplus value. Estimation by simulated method of moments indicates that data investment responds primarily to the scale of economic activity, measured by the wage bill, rather than directly to surplus. The evidence does not establish that data accumulation causes declining profitability or identify the amount of rent appropriated by data owners. Within the calibrated model, greater data sharing and weaker exclusion reduce differential rent and support larger steady-state stocks of data and variable capital, although adjustment is slow. Privacy restrictions instead reduce usable data without necessarily weakening exclusive control over it.
The Zoom link to join the seminar online can be found here. This event is open to the public; all those interested in this topic or the speaker are very welcome to attend. After the presentation, there will be time for questions and discussion.
For any queries related to our UNU-MERIT Seminar Series, please contact Lizeth Melissa Molina Alvarez and Raghav Chakravarthy by sending an email to seminars@merit.unu.edu.
