The emergence of free and open source software (FOSS) has sparked significant attention on the phenomenon of peer production. This paper explores the broader implications of peer production beyond software development, suggesting that it may outperform market-based production in certain information production activities. Peer production excels in acquiring and processing information about human capital, efficiently assigning human capital to information inputs, and capturing economies of scale more effectively than firms or markets. The primary costs of information production include physical capital, communication, human capital, and information input costs. Information inputs are a public good, while human capital is a key economic good. As computation and communication costs decline, human capital becomes increasingly important in information production, enhancing the relative advantage of peer production. Peer production faces two main objections: the incentives problem and the "tragedy of the commons." However, the incentives problem is trivial if sufficient contributors can be networked, and their contributions can be integrated into a finished product. Peer production can achieve coordination and integration through various mechanisms, including limited market-based or hierarchical integration, iterative peer production, and technological clearance. These mechanisms are low-cost and do not require appropriation of the entire product, preserving the peer production process. Peer production has significant policy implications for intellectual property law. Strong intellectual property rights may burden non-proprietary sectors without providing benefits, and they may hinder the generation of information and productive resources. Peer production offers rich material for empirical studies on collaborative behavior, measurement of peer production's importance, and theoretical work on organizational forms as information processing devices. The paper discusses peer production in various forms, including academic research, computer games, and information distribution. It highlights examples such as NASA Clickworkers, Amazon's peer-produced ratings, Google's PageRank algorithm, and Slashdot's peer review system. These examples demonstrate how peer production can effectively produce content, relevance, accreditation, and distribution. The paper concludes that peer production is a viable alternative to market-based and hierarchical production, with significant implications for information and knowledge economies.The emergence of free and open source software (FOSS) has sparked significant attention on the phenomenon of peer production. This paper explores the broader implications of peer production beyond software development, suggesting that it may outperform market-based production in certain information production activities. Peer production excels in acquiring and processing information about human capital, efficiently assigning human capital to information inputs, and capturing economies of scale more effectively than firms or markets. The primary costs of information production include physical capital, communication, human capital, and information input costs. Information inputs are a public good, while human capital is a key economic good. As computation and communication costs decline, human capital becomes increasingly important in information production, enhancing the relative advantage of peer production. Peer production faces two main objections: the incentives problem and the "tragedy of the commons." However, the incentives problem is trivial if sufficient contributors can be networked, and their contributions can be integrated into a finished product. Peer production can achieve coordination and integration through various mechanisms, including limited market-based or hierarchical integration, iterative peer production, and technological clearance. These mechanisms are low-cost and do not require appropriation of the entire product, preserving the peer production process. Peer production has significant policy implications for intellectual property law. Strong intellectual property rights may burden non-proprietary sectors without providing benefits, and they may hinder the generation of information and productive resources. Peer production offers rich material for empirical studies on collaborative behavior, measurement of peer production's importance, and theoretical work on organizational forms as information processing devices. The paper discusses peer production in various forms, including academic research, computer games, and information distribution. It highlights examples such as NASA Clickworkers, Amazon's peer-produced ratings, Google's PageRank algorithm, and Slashdot's peer review system. These examples demonstrate how peer production can effectively produce content, relevance, accreditation, and distribution. The paper concludes that peer production is a viable alternative to market-based and hierarchical production, with significant implications for information and knowledge economies.