Draft:Assetization

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Assetization is a concept in political economy and economic geography that describes the process by which things — including goods, services, knowledge, data, and natural resources — are transformed into assets that generate ongoing returns through ownership and control, rather than being sold as commodities through one-time exchanges.^[1]

The term is closely related to financialization, but is considered distinct in that it focuses specifically on the enclosure of resources to extract economic rent rather than on the broader expansion of financial markets.^[2]

An asset, in this context, is defined as a resource controlled by an entity from which future economic benefits are expected to flow.^[3] Unlike commodities, whose value is realized at the point of sale, assets derive their value from the capitalization of expected future income streams. Assetization therefore involves constructing present value through forward-looking financial tools such as net present value calculations and discounted cash flow analysis.

Scholars identify three key characteristics of assets as distinct from commodities:^[4]

• They are legal objects that enable ownership and control, including the ability to limit access.
• They generate ongoing revenue through rentiership rather than one-time exchange.
• Their valuation is an ongoing social process rather than a fixed market price.

Assetization is closely related to but distinct from financialization. While financialization refers broadly to the increasing dominance of finance and financial logics in the economy, assetization focuses on the specific process of enclosing resources to collect rents that are then capitalized as property.^[5]

A widely cited example of assetization is the transformation of the aerospace industry. Rather than selling jet engines outright, manufacturers such as Boeing have adopted service-based models in which engines are leased to airlines for an hourly fee, shifting the economic value of the product from a one-time commodity sale to a recurring, rent-generating asset.^[6]

Other domains in which assetization has been studied include:

• Housing and real estate
• Personal data and platform capitalism
• Intellectual property and knowledge economy
• Natural resources and environmental assets

• Financialization
• Commodification
• Economic rent
• Platform economy
• Capitalization