Economy of Traces: Traceability, Tracking, and the Accounts We Live by

Author/Contributor(s):	Power, Michael
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Date:	06/19/2026
Binding:	Paperback
Condition:	NEW

Economy of Traces delivers an analysis of the implications of traceability for the many accounts we live by. Issues about why we trace, what we trace, and how we trace have become critical, and the book draws upon thinking in accounting, philosophy, and sociology to understand the different facets of traceability, including connectivity, organization, governance, risk, personhood, and knowledge generation. Through these themes, the book locates a key tension at the heart of our digital economy of traces; namely, that the more we are technically able to produce and track traces of human behaviour, the more fragile the traditional organizational forms of human oversight and accountability become.