What happens when the foundations of today’s economy no longer match how value is actually created? That question sat at the center of the discussion with Professor Rohinton P. Medhora, part of the Young Scholars initiative’s Webinar Series on Rethinking Capitalism and Economic Orders. This series connects economic ideas with the real world, aiming to describe, reform, and ultimately transform it.
The session examined how intellectual property, data, and digital technologies now drive economic growth, while governments continue to rely on outdated tools such as GDP. A tool that was designed in the aftermath of World War II, the measure struggled to capture value created by digital platforms, freelancers, informal work, and intangible assets. As Prof. Medhora argued, the world has faced similar moments before—and responded by building new global systems. Today, he suggested, the challenge is to create an international framework that properly measures intangibles as a global public good.
The discussion focused on developing countries. While weak data systems and limited institutional capacity remain real obstacles, participants rejected the idea that these countries lack agency. Examples such as India, South Korea, Estonia, Israel, and Taiwan show that strategic digital infrastructure and policy choices can help economies move up the value chain. India’s digital public infrastructure, in particular, was highlighted as an inclusive alternative to purely commercial, IP-driven models.
Data emerged as the defining asset of the new economy. Often described as a possible “fifth factor of production,” data fuels artificial intelligence and digital innovation. Yet much of this data is generated in developing countries, which often lack the power to control or monetize it. If governance is not careful, unequal data deals risk deepening global inequality instead of reducing it.
The conversation also tackled the growing market concentration. Network effects and economies of scale allow a handful of firms to dominate digital markets, accumulating extraordinary profits and political influence. To counter this, Prof. Medhora pointed to stronger competition policy, renewed antitrust enforcement, and a shift back toward taxing profits rather than consumption. He also stressed the importance of “predistribution”—sharing the benefits of innovation early through mechanisms like data trusts, public stakes in publicly funded research, and international research institutions that hold intellectual property in the public interest.
Beyond economics, the session raised deeper questions about power, ethics, and democracy. Human rights frameworks written for a pre-digital era may no longer be sufficient. Issues such as privacy, misinformation, platform addiction, and data manipulation require new rights, stronger regulation, and better education and civic literacy.
About the speaker
Rohinton P. Medhora is Professor of Practice at the Institute for the Study of International Development at McGill University in Montreal, and former President of the Centre for International Governance Innovation in Waterloo, Canada, where he remains a Distinguished Fellow. His expertise spans international economic relations, innovation policy, and development economics. He has served on numerous commissions and advisory bodies, published widely, and co-edited International Development: Ideas, Experience, and Prospects (Oxford University Press).
Next webinar
Join the next session to continue the conversation on capitalism, power, and economic transformation: https://ysi.ineteconomics.org/event/rethinking-capitalism-and-economic-order-iii/
with Professor David McNally.
Slavery and Capitalism: A New Marxist History
Wednesday, 28 January 2026 | 9.00 am EST
Karl Marx’s writings on enslavement and labour have fallen out of favour among many historians. In Slavery and Capitalism, David McNally brings renewed life to these debates by offering the first systematic Marxist account of the capitalist character of Atlantic slavery. Drawing on colonial travel literature, planter records and diaries, and enslaved people’s narratives, McNally advances the provocative argument that plantation slavery constituted a form of capitalist commodity production.
