>(Glen Weyl)

> “Supermodularity is literally the mathematical concept ... the sum of those is less than when you apply to the whole. It literally is the idea from Aristotle that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.

> ... It is a generalization of the idea of increasing returns in economics. ... Public goods is a very specific case, where it just has to be available to everyone. Supermodularity is a much more general notion: by combining things together, we can achieve more than by leaving them separately. ...”

> (Audrey Tang)

> “In Taiwan we have many, many different kinds of infrastructures. Since 2017 (when I became Digital Minister), we argued that if something does not lock you into future applications—namely it’s interoperable—then it qualifies for infrastructure budget, because it’s supermodular. It’s like a train station or an airport: if the airport only flew one airline, or the train station only served one private company, there would be no industry. ... Interoperability means that if everyone participates, the sum is bigger than the parts—this is what we call supermodularity. So we always compare new digital projects to, say, a highway or an airport. Then we can justify using public “infrastructure” budget, because the more people join, the more benefit is created for everyone.”