Knowledge Wealth and Open Economies

Knowledge has the same capacity as any product, to function as a component of wealth creation. However, it may be easier to maintain growth and today's (still) open economies, if time value can be verified as a unit of measure for knowledge use. This form of services creation could make populations far less dependent on welfare states, which are quickly becoming an obstacle for open borders.

Economic time value as a point of measure and compensation, would make it possible for people to take their own economic time preferences into account. Even though we may value certain skill sets much as the institutions which hire us, often we have different preferences, regarding the use of those skills in relation to other options.

With applied knowledge use in basic time use functions, people could finally judge the ongoing results less harshly, since less is at stake on such simple terms. Educational processes would serve as incremental building blocks, which in turn means individuals can take part in services as combined investment and application processes. The result? More accessible human capital investment for those with limited resources, and less overall risk in terms of knowledge use outcomes. Importantly, these procedures would allow greater knowledge dispersal, without making further demands on the resource capacity which supports today's vast knowledge infrastructure.

Today's open economies are increasingly threatened by the constraints of primary market formation, which is proving insufficient for extensive welfare states and the costs of services as secondary markets. Given these circumstance, institutions seek productivity gains via more automation and less employment, in part because of the current costs of human capital investment. Employment losses are all the more paradoxical, since individuals still need to make extensive investment commitments, in order to gain economic entry.

Yet these existing knowledge investment burdens play a large role, re limits for knowledge use on present day terms. While digital means could greatly reduce investment costs; inexpensive digital education sends the wrong signals about personal ability in the present environment, in part since many institutions are compelled to seek the "best of the best".

Despite the tremendous potential of the digital realm to spread valuable knowledge, platforms for a higher level of societal participation, are not yet in place. Knowledge use systems could provide a platform not only for more extensive employment potential, but also the preservation of open economies as well. In all of this, a paradox of knowledge is that even though it initially builds open societies alongside welfare states; knowledge as resource redistribution cannot maintain an open society in the long run, via the same means.