"We're Not Just Creating Assets - We're Reshaping Markets" - Interview with Professor Kean Birch

Following his engaging discussion at GenTwo's inaugural Terrace Talk this summer, Professor Kean Birch returns to discuss with us the academic research surrounding Assetization. As Director of the Institute for Technoscience & Society at York University and editor of "Assetization: Turning Things Into Assets in Technoscientific Capitalism" (MIT Press), Birch brings unique insights into how the transformation of things into investible assets is reshaping our economic landscape.

You've been studying Assetization from an academic perspective for many years. How did you first become interested in this field?

I began looking at this phenomenon in the late 2000s while studying the biotechnology sector. I was fascinated by how intangible things - intellectual property, research capabilities, future revenue streams - were being transformed into tradeable assets. What struck me was that this wasn't just about creating financial instruments; it was about fundamentally changing how we think about value.

What we were seeing went beyond simple commodification. The process involved complex legal frameworks, financial architectures, and technical mechanisms that could transform almost anything into an investible asset. Since then, my research has expanded from biotech to housing markets, and now to data assets. It's remarkable to see how the concept has evolved from theory into practical market innovations.

What are the main strands of research around Assetization in academia today?

The research landscape is quite diverse. At the micro level, researchers are examining how specific things are transformed into assets - the mechanisms and standards involved. This is particularly relevant as financial innovators develop new ways to make previously non-bankable assets investible.

Another major focus is the sociological implications, particularly around housing markets and what it means when wealth increasingly comes from asset ownership rather than income. For example, Switzerland offers an interesting case study - here, relatively few people own their homes, yet the country has many millionaires. This contrasts sharply with countries like the US or UK, where housing forms the backbone of personal wealth.

We're also seeing fascinating work on what some call "asset manager capitalism" - how the rise of passive investing and concentration of ownership among major asset managers affects market dynamics. Interestingly, while there's extensive research on public markets, there's still much to explore regarding private markets and their growing importance.

We're seeing the transformation of many things into investible assets. What implications do you see for markets and society?

This transformation is profound. Take the example of baseball players creating "human capital contracts" where they sell equity in their future earnings or pool income with other players. This isn't just financial innovation - it's changing how we think about careers, talent, and value creation.

One crucial implication concerns market structure. As more things become investible assets, we need to think carefully about concentration and competition. When major asset managers hold stakes across competing companies, how does this affect market dynamics? We're seeing what I call "layered monopolies" - different levels of market concentration stacked on top of each other.

The legal framework is evolving too. There's a shift from treating things under trade law to investment law, which affects how governments can regulate markets. This becomes particularly important as more aspects of the economy become "assetized."

There's much discussion about democratizing finance. How does your research view this trend?

From an academic perspective, new forms of Assetization present both opportunities and challenges. The ability to transform almost anything into an investible asset theoretically means more people can participate in more parts of the economy. However, we need to think carefully about the implications.

Consider housing markets - in many countries, we've seen a shift toward what researchers call "asset-based welfare," where retirement security increasingly depends on property assets. While this has created wealth for some, it's also contributed to generational inequality. The challenge now is to ensure that new investment opportunities create genuine democratization rather than just shifting risk.

What's interesting is how technology and financial innovation are addressing these challenges. The ability to securitize smaller tokens, create fractional ownership, or provide access to previously exclusive asset classes could help level the playing field - but only if we get the frameworks and the governance of it right.

Looking ahead, what challenges and opportunities do you see in the expansion of Assetization?

The sustainability transition presents both immediate challenges and opportunities. How do we handle assets that might become stranded in a low-carbon economy? Think about suburban housing developments designed around car usage - what happens to their value as we transition to more sustainable transport systems and the cost of car ownership rises significantly? These questions require us to think differently about how we value and trade assets.

Governance is another critical challenge. When you transform something into an asset, you're often making decisions that affect future generations. Nuclear waste management is a stark example - when you create an asset around that, you're locking in arrangements for very long periods. We need to consider these temporal dimensions carefully.

But there are also exciting possibilities. I'm particularly interested in how Assetization could help democratize value creation in the digital economy. Rather than having a few tech companies capture most of the value from personal data, we could create collective and publicly controlled structures like data wealth funds that distribute benefits more broadly. Or consider academic publishing - new forms of asset creation could help reform a system that currently concentrates value in the hands of a few publishers.

The key is to develop frameworks that capture the benefits of Assetization while managing the risks. This requires collaboration between academics studying these phenomena, financial innovators creating new solutions, policymakers ensuring proper oversight, and the stakeholders affected by potential risks and harms. The future of finance isn't just about creating new assets - it's about reshaping markets to work better for everyone.

For more see:

-    The Many Facets of Assetization: Scenes from GenTwo's Inaugural Terrace Talk
-    Assetization: Turning Things into Assets in Technoscientific Capitalism 
-    The Assetization of Baseball Players: Instrumentalizing promise with signing bonuses and human capital contracts