  We propose a general scenario to analyze social and economic changes in
modern environments. We illustrate the ideas with a model that incorporating
the main trends is simple enough to extract analytical results and, at the same
time, sufficiently complex to display a rich dynamic behavior. Our study shows
that there exists a macroscopic observable that is maximized in a regime where
the system is critical, in the sense that the distribution of events follow
power-laws. Computer simulations show that, in addition, the system always
self-organizes to achieve the optimal performance in the stationary state.
