We’re All Billionaires Now

We may not have a billion dollars in the bank, but we enjoy the benefits of many billions of dollars invested on our behalf.

Products based on knowledge tend to have high fixed costs and low marginal costs—they cost a lot to develop but only a little to produce.

Sometimes, the marginal cost can reach zero, or close to it.

In these cases, a few hours or minutes of work can unlock the fruits of billions of dollars of investment.

---

One example of this phenomenon is the proliferation of antiretroviral therapy drugs for HIV.

Drugs that cost billions to develop could be produced cheaply enough to treat some of the poorest people on the planet, saving millions of lives.