Friday, October 4, 2019

Can Structural Dialogue Transcend Its Limitations?

Even though structural arguments have been getting some airing of late, they aren't being discussed in ways which really get at the root issues. Consequently, dialogue about the potential for progress can come across as superficial, which certainly isn't what the participants are intending. Or worse, entire debates about our economic realities get reduced to the language and struggles of identity politics.

In some respects, it's not hard to understand why this is happening. Since we live in an economy which has had ample time to mature, general equilibrium conditions are so well developed (entrenched?), that structural experimentation is best approached outside these boundaries. Still, it hasn't been easy to imagine decentralized settings for structural reform. For instance, how to create new service markets via internal means, when so many time based services rely on the redistribution of centralized states? How do we create new forms of building manufacture and infrastructure, and expect institutions which rely on traditional buildings and infrastructure, to make room for them? It's not always possible to do so, which is why new communities are needed which are more likely to embrace structural innovation.

One reason structural dialogue gets undermined, is that additional redistribution remains the expected norm in most instances. Yet redistribution is - and has been - an unrealistic approach for some time. Not only would it would reduce a needed emphasis on new wealth building potential, general equilibrium revenue would make it more difficult for defined equilibrium settings to contribute to economic potential via their own terms of engagement.

Another problem which inhibits productive dialogue, are arguments which accomplish little because they occur at such an abstract level. One notorious offender is whether capitalism bears the "blame" for our most pressing economic problems. We can't afford to continue vague arguments which do little more than assign blame. Rather, we need to determine where capitalism does actually come up short, and respond to that reality. Specifically: What if there are not enough markets, instead of too many? What if the supply side of our modern economies is completely MIA, in communities too numerous to name?

How so? Consider how non tradable sectors have essentially ignored millions of individuals, among the two thirds of the U.S. population who lack college degrees. Sometimes it seems these sectors only care to compete for the high income levels among us, or they simply aren't interested. And much of what is produced in these sectors is also non discretionary. Given the importance of this product, how, exactly, are people without college degrees expected to live normal lives? Where are the options they can feel good about, for housing, infrastructure and a full range of high skill services? Even though we understandably celebrate how tradable sector activity has reached out to low income groups in recent centuries, no one can realistically "rest their case" on the achievements of tradable sector representation for all income levels. Alas, tradable goods are discretionary, hence this isn't enough.

What about the vast market potential for human capital, which has yet to be tapped? Even though human capital is responsible for much of a modern services economy, how our institutions have utilized human capital thus far, is not necessarily a good fit for millions who seek inclusion. If structural dialogue is to break free of its restricting boundaries, human capital has to be taken more seriously, as an integral factor of knowledge based production.

The real potential of human capital is not solely the province of the best and the brightest. It is more about the aspirations of the millions who aren't yet successful, but are doing the best they they can to build a good life for themselves. When we conceptualize further progress and long term economic growth, what makes us imagine the best and brightest among us are going to be the ones convinced this is the way to go? Why should the most successful among us, be the ones who desire more growth and progress, when they are flourishing and fully vested in the world that already is?

All too often, when we think about progress, our minds dance along the "cutting edge" of prosperity, where we imagine well to do groups flourishing even more as the latest and the greatest is introduced. But what is prosperity, if it contains too few means to positively impact the entire landscape of human possibility? If we don't think the potential of applied knowledge holds real promise for those still left behind, chances are we aren't equating the masses of humanity, with what we believe progress to actually consist of. Yet it cuts to the core, when we forget that long term growth and prosperity, is really about creating economic means for all who seek to grow and flourish. We cannot forget that the ones most likely to embrace innovation and change, are precisely the ones who have yet to be vested, who consequently are most likely to invest and advocate for, the places where experimentation is just beginning.

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