The Wealth of Networks: How Social Production Transforms Markets and Freedom

The internet lowers transaction costs to the point that a third mode of production appears — neither firm nor market — commons-based peer production. Wikipedia, Linux, free software. You do not need Chandler's hierarchy or Coase's market; you need a protocol and motivated people. Benkler extends Coase: when transaction costs fall far enough, the frontier of the firm does not just move — entirely new organisational forms emerge. If you want to think seriously about how Wikipedia can exist at all, this is the book.