The Reshaping of Property Law and the Foundations of the Economy in the Twenty-First Century: Extending John R. Commons’ Approach

John R. Commons in one of his key works, The Legal Foundations of Capitalism, revealed that the definitions of property had set the path for economic development and change in the U.S. economy. For Commons, the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries were a time when the definitions of property moved from tangible to intangible and created major changes in the generation and distribution of wealth. The same patterns can be found in the late twentieth and early twenty-first-century economy as we move to a digital economy where for example the right to publicity has become an important source of bargaining transactions and economic value. This article explores the new legal foundations of capitalism in the twenty-first century.