Friday, September 11, 2015

Local Economic Diversity: Worth Preserving

Often, one thinks of entrepreneurship in a broad context of national - or international enterprise. However, if there are few local opportunities for small scale arbitrage, what happens to economic and social conditions at local levels? Does any real marketplace exist, in many places where voters nonetheless go to the polls? How - in turn - does that affect the ways people choose to vote, given their levels of dependence on government provided services? These are questions which deserve some consideration.

Centralized "efficiencies" play a role, in what has been inadvertently left out of the equation. Many organizational patterns respond well, to the global arbitrage which generates high incomes and profits. However, this holds true for tradable goods to a greater degree, than for non tradable sectors. Not only are non tradable sectors best suited for local production and consumption, they either do not benefit from economies of scale (time based services) or else the economies of scale which would provide real benefit have not yet been applied (housing).

Too often, the services sectors mimicked the efficiencies of tradable sectors, but without the same marketplace results, unless the intended product existed separately from time value (restaurants). While a lean workforce generally means broad product representation for tradable goods, broad workforce representation is needed for the services goods which deserve to be a part of everyday and local life. Even though it is not possible to generate a full range services marketplace in any traditional sense, symmetric coordination could assist the process when the redistribution of arbitraged profit is not enough.

Plus, the desire of many individuals to generate unique product settings has scarcely been tapped. These possibilities go well beyond the services product which is possible in prosperous regions and the international stage. With local corporations to assist the process, individual platforms would also mean income potential beyond a compensated wage base.

Even though few gave it much consideration when local business people largely disappeared (particularly in retail), their creativity and drive to generate unique environments has been missed. Local corporations would experiment with infrastructure which allows entrepreneurs to operate with less overhead than cities generally require. Finding ways for this to happen, would mean greater economic diversity, as well. Consider how the voluntary nature of economic interaction matters at a personal level. Even those who do not flourish in unstructured social settings, are able to become more social when they have economically definitive means to do so. People need the freedom locally, to work with commodities, goods, ideas and resources which could transform what has been real limitations in the non tradable sectors.

Local corporations - instead of existing in competition with other corporations - would represent places where individuals and groups alike would be "in competition" with their own previous achievements and efforts. This is an attribute which symmetric time coordination makes possible. These corporations would assist participants in their attempts to generate the voluntary associations which individuals are most comfortable with. The ability to personally negotiate for time based product, would allow individuals to discover forms of reciprocity which are not always possible in present day institutional environments. Any ability to be a part of active negotiation in one's work environment, also translates into better relationships with family as well.

Participants would eventually create personal "platforms" which consist of a mix of time based services, and product which may exist in relation to service offerings. This involves a gradual "processing" of life lessons, practical knowledge, specific skills sets, organizational capacity, ideas, and other resources. Such platforms would often be experiential in nature. Each individual would contribute a certain amount of personal time and attention to others, in regard to the challenges they seek out on their own.

The problem now is that society expects to find platforms for services production in highly specific configurations. Often, it is assumed that recipients can't contribute - even though most time based activities are multi dimensional forms of interaction. Hence existing services rigidities have stood in the way of optimal knowledge use and adaptation for relevant circumstance.

One task for the local corporation, would be to assist in the coordination of configurations which work for local citizens. By combining a full range of economic activity, it becomes easier to maintain the links between personal expression and workplace presentation. This process would create a template for entrepreneurial services formation, as well. A combination of geographic issues and workplace rigidities, has been partly responsible for the fact that individuals of normal working age have been less inclined to remain in the workplace. By providing more workplace options and eliminating the need for long commutes, there's a good chance that many who abandoned the workplace prematurely (or never took part) would be tempted to try again.

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