Paper short abstract:

What is an asset? What is a commodity? How is an asset or commodity defined? What does this mean for asset or commodity valuation? These are contested questions in the development of techno-economic practices, knowledges, and governance (e.g. valuation, accounting, corporate governance, etc.).

Paper long abstract:

What is an asset? What is a commodity? How is an asset or commodity defined? What does this mean for asset or commodity valuation? All such questions are subject to contestation in the development of techno-economic practices, knowledges, and governance (e.g. valuation, accounting, corporate governance, etc.). In contemporary, technoscientific capitalism, there is an increasing tendency towards 'rentiership' over 'entrepreneurship' as an accumulation strategy - here, rentiership is defined as the capture of profits from the ownership and control of assets as the result of their natural or artificial scarcity, productivity, and quality. A key issue this tendency raises is the position of commodities in technoscientific capitalism - are they obsolete? If not, how are they made relevant? This paper will look at the emergence and role of the asset form and asset boundary in technoscientific capitalism resulting from changing techno-economic knowledges (e.g. Systems of National Account) and techno-economic property regimes (e.g. global investment treaties) as a way to interrogate the continuing analysis of commodities.