Becky Hargrove
Crafting an Institutional Response
Initial publication, 30 August 2020, The Intentional Marketplace,
monetaryequivalence.blogspot.com
Chapter 8 Intro
Sometimes we reach a historical juncture which appears to require a dramatic response, in order to preserve existing patterns of wealth and progress. This may be one of those moments, for a new institutional approach could clarify a process for additional productivity gains in services dominant economies. In this book I've sought to provide examples for assuming these challenges as individuals, rather than continue waiting for others to do so in our stead. This last chapter highlights some institution building specifics, which I also hope to further explore in the third book of the series.
Admittedly I took a different approach with this part of the project, by starting with potential solution sets before delving into the particular issues we face at a macroeconomic level. The long term structural problems we face are somewhat overwhelming, so it seemed best to begin with positives (how to turn things around for the better), before further elaboration on the negatives of our present economic predicament. Hence the next book of the series will go into greater detail regarding structural shifts (technical, but from a layperson's viewpoint), and why those changes matter.
Alas, there are few easy answers for resource imbalances between the tradable and non tradable sectors which comprise our economic activities. And for the most part, when reform suggestions are proffered, they take a linear approach to what is unfortunately a non linear development in general equilibrium dynamics.
So long as tradable sector activity remained dominant, it might also have maintained reasonable levels of wealth and progress in many circumstance. However, tradable sector employment and GDP representation was already losing its dominance, before I graduated high school in 1973. In the meantime, GDP representation for non tradable sector activity has often stabilized around 80 percent in mature economies. Alas, given this dominance, domestic economy dependence on originating wealth sources could partially undermine tradable sector foundational wealth, if domestic markets are not rebuilt to include better options for all income levels. Meanwhile, the highly skilled services of our non tradable sectors, continue to shift ever more debt obligations into the future.
Shifting debt obligations may seem necessary, given today's extreme income variance. However, expecting future generations to pay for the services of today, is not something any nation can continue indefinitely. Plus, it is time to counter the fact that budgetary debt structure also contributes to a permanent underclass. Fortunately, we can generate more reciprocal wealth in the present by aligning human capital potential, so skills exchange creates more value for all concerned. This could be accomplished via a better institutional approach for the production and consumption of time based production.
Today's economic problems been gradual and cumulative. Yet in certain respects, the political discontent of our times contains origins which go back at least half a century. In 1970, Ivan Illich wrote:
We need research on the possible use of technology to create institutions which serve personal, creative and autonomous interaction and the emergence of values which cannot be substantially controlled by technocrats.Why has it been so difficult to build institutions which promote the kinds of interactions which Illich spoke of? For one, people have become used to thinking in terms of centralized settings to get things done. We have struggled to envision more decentralized approaches in part because there needs to be elements of sustainability in them which is not dependent on other aspects of the system. And when it comes to services generation, much of what now transpires is dependent on the wealth sources of entire nations.
Plus, people are often used to thinking or responding to problems in terms of short term fixes. However, a long term approach is needed which can bring greater economic sustainability to local economies, so they will not remain as dependent on national resource capacity as is currently the case. What's more, when we conceptualize economic issues from a broader perspective, it makes more sense why some arguments which were once perfectly rational, don't always hold up as well as before.
One important aspect of all this, is that new patterns of economic activity have the greatest chance of contributing to economic dynamism when older patterns are also reinforced. Once the limits of today's non tradable sectors become more apparent, societies can begin building services and infrastructure frameworks which are more responsive to all citizens, not just those with high income levels. While this chapter is not a full summation of specific institutional possibility, it notes some of the more important aspects of providing redress for structural imbalance.
A Simpler Approach to Combine Multiple Reform Efforts
One benefit of a defined equilibrium approach, is its framing for a wide range of non tradable sector activity. By combining supply side considerations in building components, infrastructure and time based services in decentralized (hence negotiable) wholes, groups gain additional incentive and logistical ability to achieve mutual coordination.
Logistical advantages toward this end are paramount. Normally, non tradable sector activity gets coordinated by so many separate groups in widely disparate settings, that no single institution can realistically expect to resolve logistical issues for mutual assistance in complex economies. One reason this is problematic in terms of reform potential, is that reform attempts occur in what are countless different "battlegrounds". Most of these battles are also readily defeated, by the non tradable sector special interests which determine how markets are normally constructed.
Consequently, local communities have lacked a united front by which they could pursue non tradable sector innovation for better management of the resource capacity at their disposal. Since municipalities rely on wealth redistribution (much as national government) for organizational management, policy makers also lack a clear framework to embrace decentralized approaches to innovation and wealth creation in non tradable sectors.
Due to internally derived resource reciprocity, the defined equilibrium of applied knowledge systems could help provide such a framework. Recall there are nonetheless similarities in this new organizational capacity, with how corporate structure previously evolved to internalize services generation where possible. Defined equilibrium settings would tap a sufficiently broad spectrum that production gains can be shared by all participants. Importantly, the tradable sector activity of building components manufacture, becomes part of the logistical whole as well.
Toward this end, local communities would function as business entities in ways which ordinary municipalities lack. Once difference in locally managed and defined equilibrium, is that participating groups gain cost cutting means which promote long term economic viability. Also unlike normal municipality structure, is that all local citizens would take part via mutual employment.
Traditional municipalities (or governments for that matter) also lack the ability to generate good deflation through economic activity, since they depend on other separate business entities - each of which relies on its own internal methods to minimize costs. Unfortunately, often the only means municipalities and government have for budget management in these circumstance, is making what are often arbitrary decisions in terms of supply and demand for their constituents. Through internal management of all relevant services, building materials and infrastructure, local participants in new communities would contribute to their domestic equilibrium potential. And doing so, also gives participating groups the opportunity to reduce a wide range of routine expenses for all involved.
Since defined equilibrium assumes an internal approach for spectrum wide cost cutting, the process could eventually become a useful tool for poverty alleviation. Ordinarily, poverty is a societal symptom which is expressed (and fought) in countless ways, but practically all who experience poverty, also struggle with services access. Yet in normal conditions, many time based services costs cannot be controlled without making undue demands on other forms of resource capacity. How might a range of multiple battles be narrowed to a single battle? Of narrowing, Geoff Mulgan in Big Mind explains:
Oddly, although individual institutions are quite good at narrowing, at a societal level there is a surprising shortage of institutions designed to judge what really works and which ideas deserve to be backed with resources. Markets play this role for commercial ideas. But ideas that could be socially valuable often struggle to find support, even when there is strong evidence that they work.Problems have often proven more difficult to solve, whenever many organizations are involved. As Mulgan noted, the more that organizational boundaries are crossed, the less of a common framework there is for common understanding. Defined equilibrium for internal management, could make it less necessary to cross so many institutional boundaries to achieve good results.
Simplification in Ownership and Shared Infrastructure
Governments also lack the ability to serve a wide range of citizens once they become overly complicated. In particular, tax dollars on the part of lower income levels can get lost in the shuffle. Unfortunately, when governments needs to represent millions of individuals in large nations, higher income levels and special interests can become overrepresented in how tax dollars ultimately get spent. Groups with lower income levels could especially benefit from simpler and less complicated tax structures, so their limited time and resource capacity can be more fully utilized - both for individual and group outcomes. Plus, one of the best aspects of decentralized settings for these options, is a greater ability for local economies to respond to the wants and needs of all citizens.
Toward this end, some physical elements of defined equilibrium would be relatively straightforward. In many instance, community ownership would involve multiple options beyond one's living quarters, especially in terms of infrastructure provision such as street grids and public spaces. As to the latter, many of these would serve multiple functions in the course of the year for calendared events. While public spaces would comprise the majority of community core within walking distance, these areas would be surrounded by a wide range of private holdings - including street grids not just for automotive travel, but other forms of transportation as well. Once central layouts are established for a full range of services activities, tradable sector options and retail can develop around the initial walkable core.
"Generic" Applied Knowledge Patterns for Value in Use Roles
Fortunately, many aspects of applied knowledge have been available in some form, for as long as anyone can remember. Indeed, one could imagine them as generic since - at least when available - they are free to utilize and no longer protected as intellectual property.
Just the same, people often have difficulty locating information which is relevant for current predicaments, especially if something needs to be quickly remedied. Given this reality - if one isn't acquainted with the relevant material beforehand - people become more likely to seek out professionals and specific associations, as these groups are recognized as the go to sources for applied knowledge. Unfortunately, taking this economic (and socially approved) route, means many potential generic possibilities may be passed over in favor or other remedies. Toward this end, professional knowledge providers are likely to emphasize recent methodology and related personal preferences. In all of this, even though generic knowledge does not have specific intellectual protections, our ability to tap into a wealth of existing knowledge on economic terms, is limited by design.
Alas, this is a design flaw we now need to remedy. However, doing so requires gaining permissions for generic knowledge via understandable and verifiable context. For instance, one reason why some digital sharing of healthcare information was discouraged early on, was the fact that lines between "free" knowledge versus knowledge for pay, were being blurred. For instance, one unfortunate consequence of the earlier digital sharing, was the extent to which earlier treasure troves of herbal wisdom were largely dismissed by professionals and much of the media as "worthless". Anyone who has engaged in herbal studies for some time, knows this is not true.
Since those earlier internet freedom battles, it has taken more than a decade for many aspects of previous botanical methods to find reintegration in traditional healthcare patterns. Hence in knowledge use systems, participating groups need to ensure that lines are not blurred between social assistance somehow deemed "free", versus one's very real costs in terms of time scarcity obligations. Toward this end, mutually shared time would become recognized as a form of sustainable economic payment, for acquired and applied knowledge.
Even though much informational potential remains available in a treasure trove of books, many such sources are forgotten once they are no longer published and set aside. Hence a particularly useful role for knowledge use systems, would be recovery of useful information from the past for economic roles beyond self help and familial assistance. Presently, much of this information lacks economic context for group discussion (and continued studies) as to what remains relevant, versus what has clearly proven outdated. As to the latter, it still helps to keep an open mind. Occasionally one hears stories of earlier remedies which were totally discarded, only to be shown (such as leeches!) to still hold value in some context.
What about day to day circumstance which already need remediation? As hospitals continue to close in rural areas and small towns, citizens could start taking more active roles which include knowledge gathering in specialty healthcare areas. This is needed because even when general practitioners may still be locally available, patients still often need to travel to cities for specialist care. Another important area would be local in depth educational support, especially in terms of emergency response groups for in home assistance.
Admittedly, local educational efforts would generally not be intended for the kinds of expensive medical procedures which are now associated with chronic illness. Instead, these groups would more often embrace the same preventative care which reduces the magnitude of chronic illness in the first place. While healthy eating in and of itself is not a cure all for chronic illness, it can still do much to manage ongoing symptoms and increase one's quality of life. This is especially true in terms of relieving stress as well. And one of the best ways to relieve stress, is to create meaningful basic lifestyles which don't include excessive financial burdens. Fortunately, there is much that can be done in terms of emphasis on healthy living, and knowledge use systems would make the most of this approach.
Experimentation and the Domestic Summit/Workshop Role
While plenty of experimentation would be involved in the time arbitrage of applied knowledge systems, individual roles would be highlighted. After all, since mutual assistance becomes framed as actual units of services production, individuals are not incidental elements of the process. For that matter, individual contributions would often assume center stage, as groups compile results in developing story lines of progress.
Domestic summits could not only help initiate new community settings, these online and in person gatherings would include negotiation procedures, whereby individuals discover common interests and experiment with preferred shared activities in group context. This framework allows participants to negotiate for personal time preferences on more voluntary terms, than what is generally feasible in many economic settings. Online meetings might be set up as games, where participants discover common interests and explore trade offs in mutual time preferences. Once people have greater familiarity with the processes involved, physical meetings could be arranged for individuals actively considering the formation of new community groups.
Initial community groups would likely be of a short term nature, meaning the purchase of more temporary forms of building components and networked infrastructure to pursue these possibilities. Perhaps a previously explored game structure online would provide occasional starting points, particularly for new communities established for approximately semester long periods. Should these pan out well and participants discover longer range mutual challenges, they could move towards more structured environments with longer time obligations and broader ownership options, in what would become upgrades in physical environments as well. Once long term settings are established, participants would more likely commit to yearly calendared sets of mutual obligations, with a broad range of more spontaneous events and activities interspersed during the course of the year as well.
Some Rationale for Defined Equilibrium Settings
What makes a defined equilibrium (hence decentralized) setting different from the general equilibrium circumstance of one's own nation? One important difference is how defined equilibrium allows participating groups to overcome budgetary limits which normally constrain potential courses of economic action - especially in terms of knowledge use.
Normally, a nation's non tradable sectors are closely associated with the existing wealth of general equilibrium conditions - particularly for the transmission of high skill time based product. While this process creates tremendous wealth for higher income levels (which is often further augmented by global wealth), much it is nonetheless a dependent form of economic activity, which in turn limits the extent to which citizens can fully take part.
However, this aspect of general equilibrium definition is only a starting point, for vast global wealth is also built into the expectations of the physical nature of our environments as well. This in turn affects how all citizens are expected to live, regardless of their level of income. While these societal expectations are obviously irrational, both public and private sectors remain attached to the excesses of lifestyle illusion, as evidence by the regulatory environment which maintains the costs involved. Otherwise, there might not be such strong tendencies to force extreme income variance into similar physical constructs for working and living. Edward Abbey once wrote that "Where all think alike there is little danger of innovation". It has proven especially difficult to rely on innovation in the physical environments and social expectations of our non tradable sectors.
How, then, could a local defined equilibrium reduce non discretionary costs for lower income levels? Fortunately, the organizational structure and market options of tradable sector activity, provide important clues. Much of this activity in recent centuries has been structured to reflect a wide range of income capacity and skill levels. Where the main problems exist, are local environments where non tradable sectors remain caught in political interpretations how everyone "should" work and live.
For this reason, creating defined equilibrium will often mean starting fresh in new communities. Here, participating groups can learn to manage ongoing expenses of all kinds which are essentially non discretionary. Much of this management nonetheless relies on extensive innovation in the manufacture of building components and infrastructure.
In a sense, time arbitrage is one half of defined non tradable sector balance at a local level, while the costs of local building components and infrastructure represent the other half. Together, these two would realize the total recorded wealth for local non tradable sector equilibrium. Tradable sector wealth is not only added on, it begins with local links to broader manufacturing networks which extend well beyond local defined equilibrium settings. By seeking balance within, the result is a decentralized and local defined equilibrium, which plays its own small role in easing the pressures which national level non tradable sector activity has created for the general equilibrium of nations.
Let's Scale Up Personally Aligned Investment Potential
One advantage to time as a valid unit of wealth, is how it also becomes an investment component for wealth building in applied knowledge. Time as wealth creates a new form of economic access which could manifest as continuous gains, in the production and consumption of time centered services product. All the more so, once the processes involved become capable of reaching greater scale.
So long as money is the only recognized economic unit, investment opportunities must ultimately be realized in terms of monetary gain. While money (as the sole representation of wealth) has worked well for final product separate from time, it cannot lead to greater skilled services capacity for time based product, for monetary and productivity gains are also dependent on reducing human input over time for final product. The only feasible way to overcome this conundrum, is by making time a valid unit of wealth in its own right. In the meantime, much human capital investment has been lost, as systems still need to reduce time in relation to other output, where possible. What's more, when it is not feasible to do so, time value as quality product, still makes excessive demand on other forms of wealth, thereby reducing aggregate productivity.
By making time value a valid economic component in its own right, matched time - instead of making additional demands on existing wealth - would further contribute to existing wealth. Best, it would do so in ways which not only scale up applied knowledge and time value in society, but also on terms which can contribute to aggregate productivity gains in the long run.
Strategies for Walkable Community
In the last century, automotive transportation has greatly changed how we relate to our own environments. Plus, it has meant substantial compromises in how we might otherwise choose to coordinate our time with others - both during the day and even the course of a given year. How might we restore some of the spatial environment characteristics which made it simpler to live and work among others?
While society has begun promoting walkable communities in recent years, there is still a considerable element of uncertainty, as to how new communities along these lines might be constructed. Our lives are so different than they were prior to the automobile, that physical environments of the near future will also need to take many of these social and cultural changes into account. Yet many different segments of society are already encouraging walkable core communities which serve multiple purposes, and it will be interesting to see how some of these initial experiments play out.
Walkable core is not only important for economic connections, but also for social connections in general. One of its most useful aspects is the potential reintegration of young and old alike in a full range of activities during the course of the day, among others. What a relief it will be, to loosen the strictures which formal schooling and nursing homes created, which so separated young and old from others.
Today's resurgence in desire for greater social densities, is nonetheless at odds with how the vast majority of the U.S. in particular is structured around the use of the automobile. Here and in other nations to some extent, those who would like to start over are limited, since extensive infrastructure commitments follow the patterns created by automotive transportation. For instance, one author notes that
The imperatives of drivers make it more difficult to create active, vibrant public spaces. Even where urban public spaces are built, they don't come alive without sufficient density around them. They become internal tourist destinations, places residents drive to visit.In all of this it helps to separate what middle classes seek for entertainment means, versus what lower income levels seek for more practical means. There might be new walkable cores in general equilibrium for instance, which lack practical use for lower income levels which can't afford these locales. Plus, these forms of walkable core are more likely to include the extensive physical requirements of the present. However, experimental versions of walkable community will include dynamic reasons for close proximity to others. These flexible and affordable environments are especially intended to ease the discomfort that people will understandably have, when they approach 21st century workplace formation with densities which were aligned for completely different workplace circumstance, even a century earlier.
Nevertheless, the best design elements for any income level, regardless of infrastructure investment, would include ample space for both work and leisure. By way of example, Geoff Mulgan explains that "The best environments mix open spaces that encourage serendipitous interaction and the quite, private corners needed for an intense conversation or meditation."
Walkable design could reduce many overhead costs associated with a wide range of potential market transactions as well. Ian Hathaway explains some of the virtues of mixed use density:
A dense co-location of businesses is valuable for many sectors of the economy, because it lowers transaction costs and improves matching between firms, labor, suppliers, and customers.Even though core experimentation with close densities is needed for non tradable sector reimagining, communities are more likely to thrive by including many traditional elements of tradable sector activity as well.
Let's Create a Better Response to Existing Realities
Many of us reside in economic conditions which - for all intents and purposes - have left behind the resource potential of lower income levels and countless communities. Increasingly, the ticket to a normal life requires at least one college degree, and even this commitment comes with no guarantees. In a commencement address for UCLA, Atul Gawande describes what has actually occurred:
Hospitals are one of the very few places left where you encounter the whole span of society. Walking the halls, you begin to understand that the average American is someone who has a high school education and thirty thousand dollars a year in per-capita earnings, out of which thirty percent goes to taxes and another thirty percent to housing and health-care costs. Working in healthcare, you also know, more than most, that we incarcerate more people than any other economically developed country; that thirty percent of adults carry a criminal arrest record; that seven million people are currently incarcerated, on parole, or are on probation; and that a massive and troubling proportion of them are mentally ill or black.There's plenty of problems summed up in Gawande's surmisal. How can we respond? Even though it is not feasible to lift up everyone through higher income levels or handouts, we can allow innovation to make our immediate environments more affordable and simpler to manage. And it need not be the responsibility of government. Hopefully, we might finally gain the permission of governments to allow more affordable economic environments to come into existence.
Much of economic exclusion comes down to a lack of imagination, in terms of the resources we could bring together to make life less of a struggle for those with limited monetary resources. The innovation of production reform in our non tradable sectors, could help restore hope to millions of individuals and give them the determination to succeed.
Direct Democracy for Local Time Centered Context
Given the chance, time arbitrage could create opportunities for local self governance which more closely reflect what individuals might achieve with the resources they actually have. By taking more active roles in the supply and demand of services generation, citizens might also realize, why societies struggle to support applied knowledge systems solely through full monetary compensation. Democracies also suffer when governments impose additional time based commitments on those whose time was already scarce to begin with. Since money and economic time are often not interchangeable, societies are in need of stronger economic definitions and opportunities for the use of personal time on economic terms.
Since our economic time value does not directly correlate with monetary aggregates, time based activities gradually lose their capacity for broad coordination across multiple income levels, once tradable sectors need less time coordination in relation to non tradable sectors. While tradable sector markets continue functioning via the "invisible hand" that derives from full resource representation, today's non tradable sector activity suffers from partial representation of time value as an aggregate of total wealth.
The creation of markets which allow time value to function in relation to itself, would make it possible for local communities could discover how the invisible hand of full resource coordination, could also prove valid for time value options. In the process, citizens would not only have a chance to engage in direct democracy, they would gradually discover better means of supply and demand for time based services generation. The main reason democracy has struggled of late, is that citizens lack sufficient economic context by which aggregate time value actually matters. With time as an economic unit, local groups would be able to structure services generation in ways which reflect the time scarcities which people actually hold.
A New Institution to Promote Lifelong Economic Ties
While there are many institutions which encourage lifelong ties, few do so on economic terms which translate into positive social outcomes for non professionals. Yet it is often the economic connections we make with others over the course of a lifetime, which lead to lifelong friendships. With a little luck, future communities might encourage all citizens to take part in time based markets which encourage social connections - especially for the continuity of applied knowledge.
When we envision social and economic activities in this context, it is easier to imagine how schooling in general would become part of these social patterns. Today, formal schooling more often separates students from the social and economic interactions of their own communities. If this weren't problematic enough, communities expect to support local schools via property taxation, even though many citizens may not personally benefit from this obligation.
On the other hand, many citizens could benefit from a knowledge continuum built from a total community perspective. Time arbitrage would make it feasible as well for students to take part in learning processes with all community members, instead of behind the closed doors of present day formal education.
There's an important corollary in early life as well, for the possibilities of time arbitrage. Many small communities lack sufficient jobs by which young students could set aside much needed savings for the approaching responsibilities of adulthood. Compensated mutual assistance from a young age, would mean no one would have to wait to move away in adulthood, before assuming much needed work roles. No matter the direction a young adult chooses to make upon adulthood, being able to save from a young age, would make a tremendous difference in terms of a start in adult life.
Time Value Requires Group Context
Group context for what may be deemed "necessary" local applied knowledge, would be built up gradually and incrementally. When higher levels of skill are involved, they can be supplemented not only in local educational patterns, but also through artificial intelligence and a wide range of digital possibilities.
While participating groups are in experimental stages, experiential time sharing might occasionally prove the preferred norm. However, experiential product ultimately needs full supplementation with basic skilled services, before it readily translates into meaningful monetary compensation. How so? If participants remain dependent on skilled services outside what they actually generate, they have yet to devise a system which includes reliable utility value in a non discretionary context.
The best starting point for all concerned, is a willingness to take both the wants and needs of others into consideration, so that others can do the same. One way to accomplish this is to be flexible about both experiential and practical offerings. Anyone unable to do so, would eventually become hard pressed to continue matching time effectively with others.
Granted, new communities would frequently begin without a full slate of skill levels, which is perfectly fine and to be expected. Just the same, a willingness to engage in basic tasks, is also likely to encourage other participants to share time in teaching skills with those who are flexible and motivated in terms of improving their abilities over time. While sporadic voluntary assistance does add social value, time arbitrage in group settings would remain incomplete without a clear group vision for basic services functions, to preserve the integrity of the group as a functioning unit. Once a recognizable core of basic services is in place, participating groups would become qualified for formal monetary designation.
Experiential Time, Environment Maintenance and Education Needs
Much of the work perceived as necessary if unpleasant, is also part of environment maintenance - especially for existing physical infrastructure. Since most individuals understandably prefer work which is not too taxing for extended periods of time, hard physical labour not only deserves normal monetary compensation (that is, more than what participating groups expect to receive for desirable work), no one should be expected to have to perform such work so long their health starts to suffer.
Since some infrastructure maintenance will always require hard and even dangerous labour, local participating groups may wish to pool additional monetary resources for younger citizens who are willing to perform this work. Indeed, should young people wish to set aside this monetary source for their needs as young adults, the community could contribute matching monies as additional incentive.
One advantage to these forms of community, is that a minimal amount of property tax would likely be required, if at all, since all communities members would share in teaching responsibilities where possible. One possible exception could be laboratory settings where groups are able to assemble for science based and healthcare activities. For the most part, education would take place in different circumstance than traditional classrooms. By way of example, many aspects of shared learning settings could take place via small personally owned properties which participants can set up at various times during the year in the public community core spaces.
What about circumstance when outdoors physical labour is voluntary, enjoyable and even desirable? An apt example would be when communities are designed around desirable physical attributes which require a certain degree of ongoing maintenance. In these instances, one's desire to live among natural beauty, for instance, may come with time obligations for the maintenance of these enjoyable settings. Yet the desirable nature of voluntary work is also self managed, meaning it would not be so physically taxing for older individuals as is often the case on full or even half day schedules. When these maintenance environments are included in various group settings, they would be a part of routine time arbitrage schedules, since they are an experiential form of work which is every bit as voluntary as other desirable forms of intellectual challenge.
Hierarchy and the Collective Intelligence Factor
Despite the problems that hierarchies can cause for personal autonomy, in some instances they are still efficient in terms of applied knowledge, especially when the product in question is separate from how any one person's time is defined. What to do when individual intelligence, seemingly runs counter to group potential? Geoff Mulgan is also aware of this conflict:
The simplest way to judge individual intelligence is by how well it achieve goals and generates new ones. But this is bound to be more complex for any large group, which is likely to have many goals and often-conflicting ones.
This is obviously true in the economy, since information is usually hoarded and traded rather than shared. Societies try to design arrangements (including patents and copyrights) that reward people for both creating and sharing useful information, though...the rise of economies based on information and knowledge has shifted the balance between private ownership and the commons, and led to an evident underproduction of informational commons. Even if this problem were fixed, though, there would still be unavoidable tensions thanks to conflicting interests.What's at stake, is the "underproduction of informational commons" we all now face. At the very least, relatively flat organizational structure would make it much easier for new communities to assume meaningful work roles. As these groups gradually become more familiar with a base of useful knowledge, they would gain additional confidence for both personal interpretation and application. Hierarchical decision making might temporarily apply when local groups take on new projects which are important for participating groups as a whole.
Tradable and Non Tradable Activity as Part of the Same Core
Even though non tradable sector activity is especially in need of innovation, there is plenty of potential for innovation in tradable sector activity as well. For example, more flexible interpretations of ownership in terms of building components and infrastructure, would allow building patterns in general to become more responsive to the needs of a rapidly changing world - not to mention the growing effects of climate change.
And in new communities, tradable sector activity would often be expressed in unique ways. Local citizens will gradually gain new building options, especially via 3D manufacture. What's more, not only will more individuals be able to manufacture unique components in their own backward, they would also have ready access to more basic components via broader networks, particularly through highway transport. This latter aspect of mass produced infrastructure and building components, would contribute to basic building blocks for new communities.
Of late, plastics recycling has become problematic since too many plastics aren't well suited for reuse. However in the next decade or so, much of this is likely to change, as more plastics become reusable for a full range of purposes. For instance, scientists from Berkeley Lab took on the challenge of the recycling problem. In 2019 they created "a next-generation plastic that can be recycled again and again into new materials of any color, shape, or form".
Once this occurs, recycled plastics can greatly lower the costs of lightweight and interchangeable components for building and infrastructure. As Sibele Cestari notes, "Plastics are strong, durable, waterproof, lightweight, easy to mould, and recyclable - all key properties for construction materials". Equally important is the fact that strong resistance to insects also makes these materials capable of longer lives for homeowners, than properties which are in routine danger of insect infestations.
The Role of Formal Validation for More Flexible Time Based Service Roles
One reason that time based services tend to become overly complex and inaccessible to those with limited income (in terms of both production and consumption), is the fact a considerable amount of societal trust is wrapped up in these transactions. The rules for engagement in time based activity have become more stringent over time, whenever service providers proved untrustworthy in their transactions. However, responding to trust issues via regulatory restrictions has affected supply side structure in ways which now make it difficult for societies to effectively coordinate these roles.
An important reason for such rules is that otherwise it can be difficult to maintain trust when service coordination takes place among millions of people. For this reason, however, different organizational patterns are needed which can recreate societal trust for time based services on terms which are far less costly, especially given the level of societal debt which many of these functions now involve. Not only would internal management of time priorities reduce the need for such high costs, the process would bring citizens back to the table who in recent decades have found themselves increasingly excluded from participation.
It would be difficult to organize more effectively for time based services, if trust could not be internally generated by participating groups. As it turns out, there was something to be said for small town familiarity with individuals which in the past would have made algorithms unnecessary as a way to calculate whether individuals might in fact be trustworthy.
Hopefully, it will become easier for individuals to gain a second chance after life's inevitable failures, once people return to economic relationships in which they are relatively well known to others. When communities keep records locally, it should be easier to determine the extent to which one's own personal efforts over time, are recorded in these production and consumption stories as well. Time arbitrage can hopefully provide a level of transparency which would make life simpler for everyone concerned. What's more, these records would record each relevant transaction angle, since they would be implemented and preserved by all who take part in mutually shared time priorities.
Needed: Learning Sources Regarding Constructive World Progress
In the United States, we don't hear as much positive news about the rest of the world as one would imagine, particular since the digital realm has created such potential in this regard. Yet chance are, gains in infrastructure and building components in emerging nations, would at times prove equally useful for lower income citizens and communities with limited resources here in the U.S.
While discussion about infrastructure is a perennial favourite in Washington, too much of it is geared towards what worked in the past. Unfortunately, many infrastructure stimulus efforts are vague and consequently geared towards improving the lot of citizens who are already doing well, rather than citizens in need of infrastructure innovation which could make a radical difference in the quality of their lives.
Even though grassroots examples of innovation sometimes make their way into "feel good" news items, this isn't enough. What is really needed, are more routine sources of positive examples in this regard, where people are actively engaged in making the world a better and more dynamic place. There are likely plenty of instances where emerging infrastructure innovation could offer alternatives to the aging infrastructure of mature economies, especially where local citizens lack sufficient resources to fully maintain.
Sustainability Includes an Important Economic Dimension
A good institutional response to the issues of our time would include not only elements of stewardship for physical resource capacity, but also a better understanding of sustainable economic flows in general. And regarding the former, simply creating new walkable communities that are accessible to all income levels, would be an appropriate response to a high public demand for extensive energy use.
There is another consideration as well. Presently, we rely to a large extent on extensive use of earth's resources in order to fund the use and application of knowledge. Why not create reciprocal patterns for the use of knowledge which are more direct? Doing so would allow us to turn time value into a more direct form of wealth. Best, these knowledge diffusion processes could transpire in ways which require fewer physical resource demands from the earth, in order to bring about valuable services generation.
Sustainability is not just something outside of ourselves which may be amendable to government action. Fortunately, there are many ways we could contribute to a more sustainable world, without constantly invoking negative circumstance in order to do so.
Periods of Experimentation
Experimentation with time arbitrage would likely proceed in stages, depending on circumstance and the nature of each group. Is group potential composed of individuals (and often their families) which come together from different regions? Or are group starts part of a local experiment in restoring economic dynamism to already existing communities? Much also depends on impressions which initial participants have of each other at the outset. Whether first impressions are confirmed could determine participant willingness - or possibly a lack thereof - for committing to specific groups.
One primary issue for decision making in this regard is differences in personal background. Equally important would be life stages of would be participants. What do they most wish to accomplish at this particular stage in life? People are more likely to coordinate for a wide array of activities, depending on whether they believe opportunities exist for working with others which relate to one's primary and present life objectives. In these instances, potential participants could have a greater than normal desire to spend time with others, and also a greater likelihood to accommodate their expressed needs.
Still, there are times in life when it may not be as easy to fully coordinate one's priorities with others, especially if one suffers in some capacity with health or possibly issues in relating to others. Yet paradoxically, these also tend to be times when one's need for close proximity to others they know and trust, may actually be quite strong. Perhaps it would help to encourage individuals with similar limitations to discover where coordination possibilities exist, since such similarities would provide additional incentive for reaching beyond one's own comfort zone.
In all of this, encouraging experimentation in terms of mutual assistance could have lifelong benefits. Even though it would often feel awkward at first, once people get over the initial confusion and skepticism, they become more likely to find workable and hopefully pleasant associations with others. Such relationships can carry social and security benefits which go well beyond what they may appear at the outset.
Incremental Ownership, Incremental Steps
When we think about social welfare, what contributes to much of our vulnerability in this regard to begin with? Part of the problem comes down to social expectations regarding what "normal" life responsibilities should consist of. Equally important, is that when individuals end up not being able to afford their own accommodations, they may also become vulnerable to the whims of others who inadvertently become responsible for their welfare. But what if housing and infrastructure made many of these financial responsibilities less burdensome? What if there were better ways to ensure the autonomy, personal freedom, and self respect of all concerned?
Fortunately, there could be significant ways to reduce financial burdens, and yet still create paths for lifetime ownership options as well. Almost all individuals are capable of some degree of ownership in their lives. Flexible and interchangeable building components could give millions of individuals a greater degree of control over their own destinies. Much about human happiness is closely tied to personal autonomy, and few things would be more helpful in this regard than truly accessible housing.
However, present day real estate markets are not well constructed for the flexibility many people need. Even mobile homes and RVs are constructed so that once portions of these structures break down, it becomes quite expensive to make good use of the rest. And while low cost housing options do exist, they are often regulated out of existence where people seek access to well compensated work.
New communities would be open to new interpretations of housing ownership via incremental steps. One major benefit of flexible components, is how these units could be readily detached for repairs and replacements. Owners could keep portions which remain fully functional, while recycling or possibly disposing what no longer functions. Importantly, these units could be so easy to manage, that many individuals would finally be able to tend to their own needs, who otherwise would have remained dependent on others in ways that generate more financial burdens for all concerned.
Coming to Terms With Monetary Limits
Greater monetary equivalence is not just a matter of bringing one's income level up to what is occasionally referred to as a "living wage". The main problem of late, is how non tradable sector requirements for services and housing are often out of reach for those with limited income. Even so, there are more effective ways to increase the value of real income, than the nominal approach of higher wages. In particular, a careful and targeted supply side approach could generate more monetary equivalence for small incomes.
This is an important consideration since low wage work will always be with us. For instance, as Ryan Avent emphasizes, "Technology may surprise us - it often does - but the outlook for mass employment in productive, well-compensated jobs looks dim...The problem is the sheer abundance of labour." Indeed, globalization has also contributed to this outcome. Still, instead of reacting against globalization and trying to turn back the clock, we could work instead to create local economic environments which can better respond to the resource capacity we actually have.
Not everyone has been as upfront about persistent low income realities as Ryan Avent, and too many discussions have consequently been mired in the notion that all wages might somehow be increased to more "appropriate" levels. Nevertheless, that doesn't mean anyone should give up on creating greater monetary equivalence. A supply side approach towards this end, would create more discretionary income via innovation in sectors which have yet to experience the good deflation of tradable sector activity.
Defined Equilibrium as Representative Taxation for Time Value
Often, taxation responsibilities are shifted between different income groups to such an extent they become impossible to decipher. Who actually shoulders the burden for existing taxation priorities and their required redistribution? In particular, lower income levels tend to be poorly represented in these national and state obligation.
However, it is important to stress that defined equilibrium is not a matter of complete "exit" from the taxation obligations of one's own state or nation. The main divisions in this regard, would be for personal needs in time based services. Services generation in general would greatly benefit from more direct sources of taxation in order to coordinate these activities more effectively, and new communities would pursue this goal.
On the other hand, local citizens would also have ownership stakes in the manufacturing capacity of physical building components and infrastructure. These tradable sector holdings include monetary representation which extends well beyond one's own community, and for this reason, would be taxable in a normal sense in terms of state or national income taxes.
New Economic Options for Rural America and Small Communities
Much of rural America has been economically compromised for more than a century. However, since the Great Recession and more recently, the COVID-19 pandemic, this decoupling is becoming more pronounced. Not only do hospitals continue to close in rural areas, but regions which became dependent on tourism, are now experiencing their own economic uncertainties. One author noted that even though federal and state level governments provide fresh water and wastewater treatment assistance, healthcare access, workforce training and subsidized transportation, "none of that alters the underlying forces inhibiting their collective prospects for growth. Every core industry originally undergirding these areas continues to shed jobs."
Meanwhile, good jobs continue migrating to prosperous metropolitan areas. When few jobs pay well in small communities, these citizens find themselves with income levels which scarcely maintain aging infrastructure, homes and other buildings. New forms of productive agglomeration are needed which require less extensive overhead and operational costs, for small communities. When surveyed, rural citizens in particular have often expressed to outsiders how their main concerns are with the maintenance of housing and vital services. It's time to find new ways to address these problems.
Establishing A Domain for Production Rights
One reason why defined equilibrium settings are needed as alternatives to general equilibrium conditions, is that production rights deficiencies are essentially "baked in the cake" of the latter. During the 20th century in particular, people lost many opportunities to engage in knowledge based endeavour, unless they were able to traverse highly specific channels toward that end. One consequence of this reality, is that many of us are limited in the mutual assistance we could otherwise provide for one another. In this unfortunate scenario, should we need to pay for the time based product of some individuals, many of us may end up limited in the time based product we can still purchase from others for years afterward.
While it is not feasible to restore production rights across the board (for one, there would be extensive regulatory battles), it is possible to carve out domains where important rights can be restored. Such domains would allow individuals to utilize their time with others far more efficiently. One could think of such domains as production opportunity zones, but they would especially be intended for citizens who invest in human capital via time commitments. While these settings would also be closely associated with tradable sector building component manufacture, their context as investment opportunity would be quite different from investments of, say, traditional opportunity zones where external investors make the primary commitments.
Defined equilibrium settings could establish more trust and reliability among many who lack credentials for important skill sets. Since group participation would be limited in each setting, there would be considerable transparency as to what individuals are actually capable of, once they partake in the internal educational opportunities provided by participating groups.
Production rights are important not only for what people seek to provide in terms of human capital, but also for one's ability to successfully manage their own physical environment. Hence while a right to heal is important for one's participation in a knowledge based society, the right to repair is also important for physical environment maintenance. Yet rights to repair equipment have also been compromised in the last decade or so, as technological gains become more closely held in the digital systems of numerous machines, tools, devices and vehicles.
Possibly one of the most important forms of production rights which affect costs, are those which are not as obvious. Union requirements for building have greatly limited the design of what can be manufactured in terms of housing and buildings in general. This helps to explain why plumbing and electrical requirements in particular, have not benefited from innovations which have led to greater economic access. Fortunately, rights of production in special zones, offer opportunities for design innovation in places where it would not otherwise be feasible.
Defined Equilibrium as a Monetary Bridge
In and of itself, our labour has never been as fungible as other commodities or goods. Given normal general equilibrium conditions, differences in skill and ability are simply too broad. Consequently, on the open market, our time value is not automatically interchangeable with the time of others. Nevertheless, it is within our power as a society to reach agreement with other individuals for more equality of opportunity (as opposed to equality of outcome) in services exchange. Defined equilibrium settings would seek to remedy broad skill variance circumstance as a long term goal. Participating groups would work towards bringing overall skill level into better alignment - thereby making symmetric time value a reasonable economic option.
Organizational capacity for this process, makes it feasible for mutual assistance to function as a standard commodity base for monetary compensation. Chances are, this basic compensation option is a better long term response to workplace automation, than present day suggestions for a universal basic income. While the latter impulse is understandable, we certainly would not create a more civil society by paying people for non participation in economic life!
Markets for time value would also lead to services generation which is particularly vital for the needs of Social Security in the U.S. This is all the more important, since the futures of Social Security and Medicare in the U.S. are vulnerable in ways which reduce their viability for lower income levels - even in the near term. Engaging in well structured yet voluntary mutual assistance, makes it feasible for time use potential to become more fungible in a market context. Even though services markets are today an extensive part of the GDP of mature economies, until now we have lacked the ability to coordinate these activities in a framework which could tap a fuller range of human capital potential.
A formal institutional response is also necessary before time arbitrage systems can gain monetary support and backing on the part of the Federal Reserve. Even though the Fed cannot back time arbitrage directly, a commodity path for time arbitrage participants and their associated tradable sector activities, could provide the missing link. Manufacture of building components and infrastructure toward this end (especially recyclable plastics) would be directly associated with the time arbitrage settings which rely on these systems for their building and infrastructure needs. Since these sources of manufacture would be integral to the tradable sector wealth of local communities, and most participants would acquire additional ownership shares in this manufacturing capacity, a one to one link can be established between these tradable and non tradable sectors. This direct monetary link also makes it unnecessary for the associated non tradable sector of time arbitrage, to function as a dependent secondary market.
Even if Hope Seems to Have Gone Out of Fashion
In spite of the problems we face as a society, there is still hope. Upon completing this final chapter I came across a beautiful quote. Krista Tippet described hope in these terms:
In a century of staggering open questions, hope becomes a calling for those of us who can hold it, for the sake of the world. Hope is distinct, in my mind, from optimism or idealism. It has nothing to do with wishing. It references reality at every turn and reveres truth. It lives open eyed and wholehearted with the darkness that is woven ineluctably with the light of life. Hope, like every virtue, is a choice that becomes a practice that becomes spiritual muscle memory. It's a renewable resource for moving through life as it is, not as we wish it to be.Any economic discussion which excludes what people hope for in their economic relations with one another, would be incomplete. All the more so, since people are once again discovering the extent to which we need each other, in order to thrive and live meaningful lives. With a little luck, hope will be the light by which we find our way to a better and more meaningful future.
NOTES
Let's Create a Better Response to Existing Realities
Gawande, Atul, from a commencement address to UCLA, The New Yorker, June 2, 2018.
Hierarchy and the Collective Intelligence Factor
Mulgan, Geoff, Big Mind, pages 17 and 18.
Tradable and Non Tradable Activity as Part of the Same Core
Duque, Theresa, "Plastics Gets a Do-Over: Breakthrough Discovery Recycles Plastic from the Inside Out", Berkeley Lab, May 6, 2019
Cestari, Sibele, 'Why plastic waste is an ideal building material', Future Planet, BBC, 19 August, 2020.
Coming to Terms With Monetary Limits
Avent, Ryan, The Wealth of Humans: Wealth, Power and Status in the Twenty-First Century, (2016).
New Economic Options for Rural America
David, Swensen, 'Dwindling and disappearing jobs is the fate that awaits much of rural America', Marketwatch, The Conversation, May 7, 2019.
Even if Hope Seems to Have Gone Out of Fashion
Tippet, Krista, Becoming Wise: An Inquiry Into the Mystery and Art of Living, (London, England: Penguin, 2016)
Chapter 8 Intro
Illich, Ivan, Deschooling Society, (New York, NY: Harper and Row, 1970).
A Simpler Approach to Combine Multiple Reform Efforts
Mulgan, Geoff, Big Mind: How Collective Intelligence Can Change Our World, page 153, (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2017).
Some Rationale for Defined Equilibrium Settings
Abbey, Edward, Desert Solitaire, (New York, NY: McGraw-Hill, 1968).
Strategies for Walkable Community
Roberts, Davis, 'Could Barcelona's plan to push out cars and build superblocks work in the US?', Vox, 12 April 2019.
Geoff Mulgan, Ibid.
Hathaway, Ian, 'Start Up Communities Revisited', ianhathaway.org, 30 August 2018.
Illich, Ivan, Deschooling Society, (New York, NY: Harper and Row, 1970).
A Simpler Approach to Combine Multiple Reform Efforts
Mulgan, Geoff, Big Mind: How Collective Intelligence Can Change Our World, page 153, (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2017).
Some Rationale for Defined Equilibrium Settings
Abbey, Edward, Desert Solitaire, (New York, NY: McGraw-Hill, 1968).
Strategies for Walkable Community
Roberts, Davis, 'Could Barcelona's plan to push out cars and build superblocks work in the US?', Vox, 12 April 2019.
Geoff Mulgan, Ibid.
Hathaway, Ian, 'Start Up Communities Revisited', ianhathaway.org, 30 August 2018.
Let's Create a Better Response to Existing Realities
Gawande, Atul, from a commencement address to UCLA, The New Yorker, June 2, 2018.
Hierarchy and the Collective Intelligence Factor
Mulgan, Geoff, Big Mind, pages 17 and 18.
Tradable and Non Tradable Activity as Part of the Same Core
Duque, Theresa, "Plastics Gets a Do-Over: Breakthrough Discovery Recycles Plastic from the Inside Out", Berkeley Lab, May 6, 2019
Cestari, Sibele, 'Why plastic waste is an ideal building material', Future Planet, BBC, 19 August, 2020.
Coming to Terms With Monetary Limits
Avent, Ryan, The Wealth of Humans: Wealth, Power and Status in the Twenty-First Century, (2016).
New Economic Options for Rural America
David, Swensen, 'Dwindling and disappearing jobs is the fate that awaits much of rural America', Marketwatch, The Conversation, May 7, 2019.
Even if Hope Seems to Have Gone Out of Fashion
Tippet, Krista, Becoming Wise: An Inquiry Into the Mystery and Art of Living, (London, England: Penguin, 2016)
