CKGSB Professor of Finance Publishes English Book Looking at Economic Scarcity in the Digital Era

BEIJING, Sept. 21, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — Professor of Finance at Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business (CKGSB) and well-known economist in China, Dr Zhou Chunsheng, publishes a new book, Limitless Supply: New Economy in the Digital Era, which is the first to introduce the new concept of limitless supply and its implications for the economy at both macro and micro- levels. The scarcity hypothesis is the cornerstone of traditional economic theory. However, in the digital era, many essential production factors and products, have challenged traditional economic wisdom. Technologies and data are the most important production factors in the new economy. A technology or a set of data, whenever owned by a company, will no longer be scarce, since it can be used as many times and as frequently as the company wants. For example, Microsoft can supply as many copies of Windows and office systems as it wants and Tencent can accommodate all of the people who want to download WeChat. Zhou’s new book sets out to explain various economic phenomena in the digital era.

It analyses and summarizes the basic features of limitless supply products, and compares the differences and similarities of how limited supply and limitless supply products are manufactured, priced and marketed. The book also provides reasons for why manufacturers of limitless supply products create intangible assets. It argues that the scale of an enterprise producing limitless supply products depends on the number of users, whereas the scale of an enterprise producing limited supply products depends on the production capacity.

Zhou’s book is mainly written to construct a preliminary, simple, yet relatively comprehensive economic theory framework for limitless supply, and to interpret the phenomena and corporate behaviour. It further explores how enterprises providing limitless supply products grow financially and proposes the fundamental difference in growth models between enterprises providing limitless supply products and those providing limited supply products. The new theory proposed in the book can well explain many interesting new features of the new economy, such as new corporate competitive strategies, the “head effect” in the market structure, and the “free” model of internet services, among others.

Zhou received his PhD degree in economics from Princeton University in 1995. Thereafter, he worked as an economist in the Federal Reserve Board, a committee member of the planning and development committee of China Securities Regulatory Commission, and a professor in various academic institutions such as University of California at Riverside, University of Hong Kong, Peking University, before joining CKGSB in 2007. Dr Zhou has received several prestigious awards for his academic achievements. He is now focusing on studying digital economy as well as financial and economic transitions in China. His new theories on limitless supply and new dual economy have earned widespread recognition.

The book can be purchased on Amazon and other international bookstores: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Limitless-Supply-New-Economy-Digital/dp/9811247153/ref=sr_1_2?crid=GAIAKOFDVWVF&keywords=limitless+supply&qid=1663108680&sprefix=limitless+supply%2Caps%2C90&sr=8-2