Most communications can be described simply as a flow of entropic items from source(s) to recipient(s). If the value exceeds the cost, then some profit is generated: this is not a zero-sum game. Rather, we can assert that each communication by willing partners increases the world's wealth.
Communication is not the only profitable entropic transaction. Occasionally some transcendence occurs, for example, accreted knowledge sometimes becomes wisdom. More prosaically, the flow of entropy in a computer system continually creates (and destroys) information in its memory.
Our world is arguably finite: we cannot create without someday destroying. This limitation is evident in computer systems design. A computer cannot store information in its memory without erasing the previous contents of some memory location. It may be that the previous contents of memory were only entropic, lacking informational content, ``empty''; but eventually we will run out of empty locations and we must destroy previously-held information to make room for new information.
Bookstores and libraries, like computers, must continually discard entropic items to make room for new ones. Few humans may approach their potential for wisdom, or even for information, but certainly we all do tend to forget information that has not been converted to knowledge.
We could attempt to assign a monetary or societal value to each creation of an entropic item. This seems problematic, however, as we must consider the prior entropic state of our world: a rediscovery is much less valuable than a first-time discovery of the same item. Instead, I would evaluate the value of a creation (or destruction) event by considering the increased potential for profitable communications in future, as a result of this event.