Economic Stagnation: Build a "Fire" That Will Last

Even though there are multiple structural factors, today's economic stagnation has a strong monetary policy component (the Great Recession as beginning point) with a continuing residual effect, due to tight monetary reasoning. Central bankers never fully honored aggregate spending capacity when it was most needed, during the negative shock of rising oil prices. In all of this, the financial fallout was an effect, not a direct cause. Nevertheless, what would likely have been a garden variety recession, consequently turned into the Great Recession. What, however, are also some real economy contributions to this unfortunate circumstance?

There is a lack of understanding about the organizational capacity which contributes to direct wealth creation, as opposed to economic activity which presently "piggybacks" earlier wealth in order to take place. Consequently, there are problems for overall output in relation to debt structures. While a certain degree of secondary marketplace activity is a positive in terms of economic complexity and income levels, it is dangerous to rely on this mechanism without sufficient first market activity, for too long. First market activity might also be thought of as the kindling for a sturdy fire, along with the application of logs which burn for the longest periods.

Today's economy is reminiscent of a fire which is blazing brightly, but not enough sturdy hardwood has been contributed to make the process long lasting. Suddenly, such a fire, while appearing quite substantial at the time, could quickly die down. Indeed, the secondary market wealth of nations is vulnerable to these conditions, if and when primary market organizational patterns are not sufficient to maintain economic "warmth". What about the "filler" responses that policy makers are resorting to, for a quick blaze?

1) The mercantile response is one of the more unfortunate, given the fact Adam Smith explained how protectionism could reverse wealth creation processes, before the United States was recognized as a nation. What could explain a reversion to this antiquated reasoning? Again, think of the fire. Even though what is sought is sturdy hardwood (primary market activity) tradable sector activity that is reduced at an international level can be likened to a fire in which the damper has been shut, so the fire does not have sufficient oxygen, to burn. In particular, present day general equilibrium needs a tremendous amount of "oxygen" in order to work properly.

It has proven easier thus far, for politicians to take the short sighted and backward mercantile approach, than to initiate a serious public dialogue regarding growing automation in today's basic employment structures. Automation ultimately affects every job description, if and when a public does not work together to redefine employment on new sets of terms. And it's the response to automation which nations and their citizens need to fully address now. There is a simple way of doing so. Acknowledge the importance of time value as valuable as any other product in existence. Do so, before time value is essentially done away with in more aspects of productive organizational capacity, than is already the case. Turn time value into a local hardwood well suited for burning, so that policy makers back away from the idea of "reclaiming" hardwood from other nations.

2) A low interest rate environment as a "bonus" for government spending, response. Both private and public debt become problematic, when secondary market formation threatens to overwhelm primary market activity. This secondary market dependence can also quickly dampen what appears as though a sturdy fire, should populations find reason to doubt their nation's ability to fulfill collective fiscal obligations. The low interest rates of the present are not an economic positive. Not only does this low interest rate environment contribute to confusion regarding monetary policy theory, it lends false hope to fiscal responses and financial reform as structural means for problem solving.

Too much of the marketplace has become structured along secondary market lines, which greatly contributes to the initial investment problem, and (in this instance) the low interest rate environment. Again, planting more hardwoods (organizational capacity for knowledge use) for a sturdy fire, would contribute the needed real economy response which could eventually lead to more investment, and a higher natural rate of interest.

3) The negation of the importance of supply and demand in a changed economic environment, is also wishful thinking writ large. Whereas the wrongheaded response of mercantilism at least recognizes the reality of primary market activity for fiscal transmission, this supply and demand reasoning ("money doesn't matter"), misses the importance of supply side organizational capacity. In fact, public and private organizational capacity can both be problematic, when they take advantage of resource constructs that are not their own to rightfully assume.

Negation of the importance of supply and demand, also goes hand in hand with the wishful thinking that governments are able to tend to long term growth and output via their own means, when real market actors prove recalcitrant to do so. One reason it can be easy for progressives to bash supply and demand, is the fact too few free market advocates on the right have highlighted the lack of free market supply, for knowledge based wealth creation. And the size of the fire (an economic environment) will ultimately be limited by the good hardwoods which are planted for this purpose. Let's plant more hardwoods for the fire.

Wrap Up for November 2016

There were two really good quotes this month I'd like to note, first. Lars Christensen tweeted this:

Republicans are Austrians when they are in opposition and Keynesian when they are in power. They are never monetarists.

Yes, apparently being a monetarist, would be too logical and sensible about the actual nature of monetary representation for the public! Yet central bankers presently appear keen to maintain the same discretion factor, which allows special interests to take excessive advantage of money when it is in their favor to do so, while denying sufficient money representation to all, when it is not.

Also, from a Vox interview with Jonathan Haidt:

We haven't talked about social media, but I really believe it's one of our biggest problems. So long as we are all immersed in a constant stream of unbelievable outrages perpetuated by the other side, I don't see how we can ever trust each other and work together again.

Of course one problem in this regard, is when we explain to others that we also see the other side's point of view, we may come across as not tribal enough, for those who know us. A word of warning about the personal isolation this approach may engender: apparently it can worsen as one grows older! Nevertheless, I tried Facebook for a year or so, before finally closing the account last June. From the start, the political "warfare" was unsettling, so I sought out beautiful pictures around the world, which made the social media experience more enjoyable. Not long afterward, I noticed that most of the odd (to me) things that Trump emphasized in his campaign, had also been highlighted in Facebook.

Miles Kimball highlights an important book, on societal permissions:

From Vox:
"The one thing Trump and Clinton agree on is infrastructure. This economist thinks they're both wrong."

Interesting pictures of a walkable city. Another take on walkable cities, this time along the border between Texas and Mexico

"The Low-Skilled Labor Market from 2002 to 2014" Measurement and Mechanisms

"Does Technology Substitute for Nurses?"

David Ader explains, how vastly fewer people today are eligible for unemployment benefits.

As George Selgin noted, unfortunately there was no good political outcome this presidential election, for monetary freedom.

JP Koning puts India's (somewhat unusual) aggressive demonetization into perspective.

"To be fair, the pretrial settlement of a legal dispute is often a desirable result, and state court judges with their heavy dockets actively encourage settlement. But the fact that civil cases are being settled at an ever greater rate suggest that something else is bringing pressure to settle, and it is probably the great expense of litigation."
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/2016/11/24/why-you-wont-get-your-day-in-court/

No U.S. recession expected. If only that were good news. From Lars Christensen:
"Make America Keynesian Again"
"Make America Keynesian Again" part 2

This is the economic reality that is so difficult for presidential candidates - whether winners or losers - to address.

Automation does not have to destroy jobs. But people need to begin what will be an ongoing dialogue about the work that feels worthwhile for the future, today. Otherwise, presidential elections will continue to be full of false promises.

Good argument from Tim Haab:

We can't make arguments about the popular vote outcome of this election because both campaigns would have acted differently if the system (and the inherent incentives) were different.

Robin Hanson explains how bottlenecks inhibit institutional innovation: https://www.overcomingbias.com/2016/11/needed-social-innovation-adaptation.html

For most of my life, the costs of owning, insuring and maintaining an automobile were within the reach of any income level. That is no longer true. I noticed that (almost hour long) commutes with older cars, started to become a problem for workers, around the beginning of the new century. That's also when computerized systems made it more difficult for rural mechanics to make auto repairs, hence auto owners needed to adjust their schedules to have this work done in cities. I suspect the gradual transition away from what was once practically automatic auto ownership, is part of the problem for what some have labeled the skills gap, especially when many jobs require long commutes. Which is why - while higher income levels often appreciate walkable communities, for lower income levels they could become a practical necessity in some instances. http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/2016/11/14/Its-Not-Skills-Gap-Why-So-Many-Jobs-Are-Going-Unfilled

From the San Francisco Fed:
"Job-to-Job Transitions in an Evolving Labor Market"

Timothy Taylor:
"It seems to me that the possibility of a dramatic expansion of active labor market policies through aggressive experimentation deserves more attention in the current US economy."

The Online Platform Economy: Has Growth Peaked?

While I understand this assertion of "getting rid of all school subjects" has been challenged, it sounds like an interesting start.

There are reasons why those with low income levels may think twice about purchasing today's healthcare options, unless they already have chronic conditions.

Diane Coyle: Is there a category mismatch?

Where automation is headed:
"Lots of tasks will be reframed as prediction problems."

For Peter Turchin, Trump's win is simply a part of the bigger picture.

Also a Bloomberg article by Peter Turchin from 2013 was "recycled", HT Arnold Kling

A thoughtful article from Mark Lilla (NYT), "The End of Identity Liberalism":

If you are going to mention groups in America, you had better mention all of them. If you don't, those left out will notice and feel excluded...Liberals should bear in mind that the first identity movement in American politics was the Ku Klux Klan, which still exists. Those who play the identity game should be prepared to lose it. We need a post-identity liberalism, and it should draw from the past successes of pre-identity liberalism. Such a liberalism would concentrate on widening its base by appealing to Americans as Americans and emphasizing the issues which affect a vast majority of them. It would speak to the nation as a nation of citizens who are in this together and must help one another.

John Cochrane connects the dots between housing issues and inequality.

In "The Reality of Rural Resentment", Sommer Mathis writes:

The main thing I heard was this feeling of not getting their fair share of power or attention. They feel like the important decisions, whether in government or industry, were made in cities. And then they had to deal with those decisions, and no one was listening to their concerns. It's partly about resenting that lack of power. People really do say "Look at how much the city people have driven us in the ground"...People in cities look down on us, they think we're stupid, they think we're racist, they think we're voting against our own interests.

When does collective action matter most?

An interesting "confession": Janet Yellen Doesn't Know What Determines Inflation
Also from Timothy Taylor, what no one can afford to forget: The Plague of Long-Term Unemployment in Europe

One of my biggest concerns about arbitrary divisions of knowledge use in society, is the loss of adaptability which humanity as a species, experiences from this division.

Finally, a Glossary

Sure enough, there was a lot more reworking of the terms than I had expected, and then a series of local internet connectivity problems over the holiday weekend, slowed things down as well. Here's the link, which is also located at the top of the sidebar in the Pages section:

An "Uncommon" Glossary

The only reasoning I've got, as to why the glossary took so long to complete over the course of the year: often when these terms came to mind, I'd still be caught up with some specific example associated with the term, instead of a core definition which could help the reader. Indeed there will still be a few problem areas in that regard, which will need some light editing from time to time. Occasionally I'll provide further explanations as well, since some descriptions are actually a bit too brief.

Of course the best part, is now I have a chance to move further ahead, in bringing this project to completion. That's not to say I wouldn't want to continue posting online, only that 2017 will mark the 14th year since the project began, and I've grown anxious to have all this work in a form that someone can understand without needing to "wade" through multiple blog posts.

Fortunately, as I was putting the glossary together, some overall aspects of this work were also beginning to take shape. As far as I can tell, there will be five books in one, three of which should be more accessible for a general audience, and two that will be more specific in terms of technical issues. That will hopefully make a difference for my occasional readers, who are not "economically inclined". So in the months ahead I'll be further organizing book outlines and of course, blogging as normal. I'm anticipating the outlining processes should not "steal" so much time away from blogging, as has been the situation of late.

Liberty For All, Regardless of Income

Is it possible that lack of freedom in the marketplace for those with limited incomes, negatively affects the freedoms of those who have more? I believe this is a fair question. However, my framing in this matter, could possibly account for the fact some right leaning folk likely question whether my "claims" to a libertarian point of view, are valid.

Meanwhile, others on the left are just as likely to question my defense of a free market approach. I believe that market dynamism is central to well being. But how can markets be considered truly dynamic, if they don't function well for a wide range of income levels? Further: how can individuals expect to reciprocate for societal responsibility - for anyone - if they have little valid purpose in the economic constructs that define their lives?

Some say they wish progressives knew what it was like, to be responsible for running their own business. Fair enough. Sometimes I also wish more people on the left understood how scary the process of survival can become, when there are too few remaining economic options, by which to actively take part in life. Granted, plenty of folk on the right totally get this, but find the matter too frustrating to actively contemplate. And many who are not needed by other individuals or institutions, are living on borrowed time. Chances are, they are keenly aware of that fact.

Consequently, I advocate for free markets not just for the rich, but also for the poor in spirit, along with anyone else who may also have a limited amount of money to spend. For these individuals, both their income potential and time value deserve more respect than they have received thus far. Even though I disagree with constant minimum wage increases, it is quite pointless to react to them, if non tradable sector representatives are constantly seeking higher prices for terms of economic engagement across the board. In all likelihood, the lack of free marketplace options - especially in terms of time based services creation - now contributes to a growing vulnerability for the personal liberties of all citizens.

Sandy Ikeda has spoken of the fragility of liberty, and the fact it can too easily be lost for centuries at a time. In "The Urban Origins of Liberty", he wrote:

The idea of liberty emerged in the struggle between the forces of collectivism and individualism. It is the idea that each of us has a rightful sphere of autonomy in which we may be free from aggression. In politics this manifested itself as liberal democracy, in economics as market competition and in the broader social realm as scientific advance, artistic expression and religious tolerance.

Most important, liberty is not so much about anyone's right to consume specific forms of goods, as it is one's right to produce for - and actively engage - in the marketplace. How can anyone expect to consume, what is purposely prohibited from production? And the fact that too many rights of production have been lost, accounts for the fact that policy makers are anxious to be rid of programs which became excessive burdens because the rights of production were too limited, to begin with.

Indeed, for Obamacare, there is presently no rational "replace", other than a reversion to the twentieth century form of healthcare, which supplanted all other previously existing options available to most income levels. The twentieth century health care of the U.S. created investment incentives and provisions which were primarily, and understandably, aimed at middle to upper class levels. But consequently, it is pointless to expect "healthcare for all" from this system. Meanwhile, the coming years are likely to be filled with the struggles of the "not so poor" to retain their own, increasingly fragile healthcare access.

More than anything, my aversion to government redistribution for the poor, can be attributed to the initial mistakes of granting too much marketplace responsibility to too few individuals, for some of the most basic time based product of our lives. There are simply too many places where government largess needs to reach, before it ever gets to the small wage levels so many will experience in the years ahead.

Which is why I believe much more would be gained, if the forgotten, the frustrated, the "redundant", the misunderstood, the "supposedly" untrustworthy, the ones with health based challenges, the socially inept, in short, all those who are poor in spirit, at least be given a chance to recreate economic life on their own terms. There is simply too little room for these groups in the near future, as politics is more likely to become a battle among competing special interest groups for the spoils of the economy that exists, now.

There's little liberty to be had for those who are unemployed or are on a small income, too little freedom to live by one's identity and purpose, if one is without the "appropriate" college credentials or the career that gives the green light to do so. Liberty is also hard to come by for those who are "freed" from prison, only to find themselves in a different prison of society's making.

Where for millennia there were value in use knowledge networks which people from all walks of life could tap into, these have been mostly reoriented into the channels which those with the "right" credentials can use. If redistribution were an actual possibility for all, perhaps this limited knowledge use framework might be understandable. But there is not sufficient redistribution for everyone who wants it, nor is such imaginary redistribution likely to occur in the near future. Therefore, it is time to define wealth on broader terms, than what currently exist.

Those without credentials, and indeed some who can't put credentials to good use, need to be able to create alternate knowledge use networks. It is too difficult for many, who - even though they are diligent and prepared - to make the necessary connections with others in the knowledge based networks that already exist. Practical and useful knowledge once again needs to be freed. Liberty for all, regardless of income, starts with a knowledge use network that is not limited to those with college degrees and the "appropriate" jobs. Otherwise, there is too little means to heal the divide between rural and city life, even as rural voters recently sided with the political party which at least appeared more willing to take their personal concerns into account.

At least some Republicans would like to face cronyism head on, but doing so is not easy. Too much government redistribution, much of which is initially intended to assist lower income levels, only ends up parked at higher income levels. Hence the very act of redistribution, quickly goes out of control and out of reach of any logic. This raises the bar of economic entry for all concerned, along the entire spectrum. Presently, it's impossible to assist the poor, because of the massive government obligations that are already "baked into the cake" for everyone else. Hence a suggestion: before anyone loses their cool at the enormity of the task, please give the disenfranchised a new chance to recreate their own economic realities. Doing so might actually be easier, than making sense of the subsidies tangle in Washington.

Time Enhanced Technological Change

It struck me upon reading the intro in a paper from Elisa Giannone, " Skills-Biased Technical Change and Regional Convergence", that "time enhanced technological change" could differentiate the dynamic between (future) time arbitrage, versus today's skills arbitrage realities. A long term focus on coordinated time value in continuous (and replicable) group settings, would mean greater dispersal of knowledge use with less internal cost inflation and (consequent) inequality. However, I'm getting ahead of myself, for in her paper, Giannone highlighted the problems which today's skills arbitrage poses: not just in terms of growing levels of inequality, but the polarization of regions as well.

What is different about today's skills dependent inequality, as contrast with the wide range of skills once required by tradable sector organization? Multiple skills levels for the latter, continue to contribute to both marketplace output and growth, translating into real gains for income capacity as well. Whereas the organization of today's non tradable sector skills capacity, not only limits the potential of knowledge use in the marketplace, it demolishes the discretionary potential of small wages.

Further, the skills arbitrage of non tradable sector activity, has not only limited the marketplace reach of imminently practical time based product, this product is actually perceived as a societal burden, of use primarily to give over to automation or be fought over by competing power bases. Non tradable sector inequality is far more problematic than tradable sector inequality ever was, because the skills divisions it continues to designate, only further divides the mental capacity of populations for the long term, all the while in settings of gradually decreasing marketplace supply of time based services, in relation to population levels.

How might one think about the potential of "time enhanced technological change", for greater marketplace production of time based services? Perhaps the very term "labour", could be said to belong to externally defined concepts of a person's time value. Initially (i.e. the Industrial Revolution), in terms of whether one had the physical capacity or soundness of mind to perform basic functions in externally defined workplaces; and more recently, for the more specific and often knowledge/skill based workplace functions.

Indeed, it may be useful to completely dissociate the term of labour, with what people actually desire from mutual self employment with others, in a time arbitrage environment. After all, the employment potential of time enhanced technological change is more closely associated with the entrepreneurial offerings of experiential and useful time, than with the boss/employee dynamic or arbitrary institutional knowledge use requirements. The personal incentives for work options are also more closely related to what people have willingly provided for others all along, on their own preferential and occasionally non economic terms.

Does A Good Life Depend on a Good Job?

Some months earlier, Michael Lind at the NYT (HT Miles Kimball) asked, "Can You Have a Good Life if You Don't Have a Good Job?" I was encouraged by the post title because - for me - that was the right question to ask, in a time when good jobs are increasingly hard to find.

However, regarding the earned income tax credit he highlighted: it helps to be cautious, in supposing this subsidy can play more than a limited role to assist small wages. In and of itself, the E.I.T.C. is not enough to suffice for the production and consumption requirements of today's general equilibrium. Regular readers know I believe that alternate equilibrium design for production and consumption, could provide better options in some instances. Too many government programs obscure the fact, that today's non tradable sector organizational capacity is basically out of reach for lower income levels.

Indeed, some commenters at Lind's post, stressed that high wages are necessary for a good life. Which may help to explain why so many politicians promise "good jobs" to citizens, despite the fact policy wonks are now less convinced the "good jobs" expectation still applies. Even the best policy intentions may not generate well paying or meaningful work, and warnings in this regard surfaced prior to Ryan Avent's concerns in "The Wealth of Humans". Just the same, many continue the necessary preparations, for what they hope to be a high level of economic access. Will the societal response worsen, should too many become blocked from the middle class?

Yet the frustrations of those with a reasonable start in life, are echoed by those who lack a similar beginning point. Indeed, I probably should have weighed in on the subject of earned income tax credits shortly after beginning this blog, since I benefited from the E.I.T.C. for a while after losing access to normal office work (mid seventies to mid nineties) with normal benefits. The earned income tax credit is mostly experienced as a once a year benefit, with little real impact on spending decisions. Helpful though it may be at tax time, this approach is hardly in the same league with other forms of basic income, which of course is a poor "solution" in a broader sense. As a long term approach, basic income would be deleterious to self esteem.

Michael Lind summarized his article with these thoughts:

Until most American workers are persuaded that they will not be worse off in a system characterized by flexible work arrangements and partly socialized benefits, they may continue to make unrealistic demands that 21st century politicians restore something like the occupational structure of the 20th century. Politicians should tell working Americans what they need to hear, not what they want to hear. And what they need to hear is that it is possible for all Americans to have good lives, even if they can't all have good jobs.

Fortunately, higher wage contract workers - even though their jobs aren't quite equivalent to earlier forms of decades long employment - can still access much of the complicated welfare system as it currently exists between today's public and private U.S. providers. It's the lower wage contract workers who do not have these same options, and consequently could use better means to devise production and consumption realities that are better aligned with their income potential.

Update: Basically, lower wage workers are losing too much of their lives too quickly, and they can no longer wait for either governments or businesses to address the cronyism which has made welfare systems so complicated in the first place. Which is why this blog addresses specific potential solution sets for those with limited income who seek a better life - one that could be independent from government handouts altogether. Why so? Political factions waited too long, to address the cronyism which now contributes to social unrest. I honestly don't know if it's too late to turn back cronyism in the U.S., since it was not tended to in the years that counted most, years which might have preserved free markets for all income levels. Which is why I wrote above that (at least) upper level income contract workers can still maneuver the welfare maze. However, lower income levels need a new lease on life potential, in which they finally have the chance to innovate non tradable sector activity to create free markets for services and asset creation, for the first time. From the National Review, the quote which prompted me to add this update, from "It's Time for the Right to Get Serious about Tackling Cronyism":

In healthcare, federal policy frequently privileges large, consolidated hospital systems at the expense of smaller provider groups, and Obamacare is packed full of corporate welfare, particularly for insurers and hospitals. In agriculture, farm subsidies are almost pure corporate welfare. They now cost taxpayers some $20 billion each year, much of which involves upward redistribution from taxpayers to both corporate and family farms whose owners are generally wealthier than most Americans. 

Notes on Primary and Secondary Market City Dynamics

How have cities changed, from those of the recent past? Cities have gradually transitioned from environments in which lots of real estate is dedicated to "making stuff" (primary or first mover markets for wealth creation), to those which now concentrate on providing more spaces to live, work and play. In particular, this transformation often meets the wants and needs of those with higher income levels.

Cities as a desirable location for professionals might be considered secondary market formation at its finest. Yet - for all the wealth of secondary markets (which include finance and healthcare) - it helps to remember how this present organizational structure will remain dependent on the wealth of primary markets, in order to function and prosper for the long run. And tight money conditions across the globe, are now making it difficult for some primary markets to function properly, which in turn reduces their own wealth potential.

Simply put: it's difficult to create more economic or physical space for the production and consumption of knowledge and time based services. The present form of non tradable sector organizational capacity, as the sole means of knowledge use, is beginning to crowd the output potential of tradable sector activity. Not only is this a problem for those who seek either meaningful employment or time based services access in the near future, but also for the growth strategies of cities in general. At a surface level - at least - the Nimby response of today's prosperous regions, seems oddly logical.

Meanwhile, the broad revenue streams of prosperous cities, depend on budgets which are in part determined by broader economic circumstance, that extend well beyond their reach. In many respects, these income flows are different from those made possible through tradable sector activity. And where time based services have centralized to a greater degree than many expected, tradable sector activity instead came to rely on decentralized organizational patterns (including rural), as means by which to remain competitive in the marketplace.

A primary to secondary market transition for cities is also important, since it suggests potential problems with recent efforts to increase their population densities. In the year 2000, Ed Glaeser wrote about the consumer city as displacing the city environments which emphasize production roles. "Consumer cities" are an apt description, how the secondary market transformation has played out across the U.S. Sixteen years earlier, Glaeser already realized it was a losing battle for cities to appeal to manufacture as a growth strategy. He emphasized that cities would do best to structure for greater consumption orientation, rather than traditional production. Even though tradable sectors continue to place corporate offices in city environments for the benefits of agglomeration effects, they generally prefer to place manufacturing facilities where real estate is more conducive to costs.

Consequently, there may be some limiting factors for city growth, in terms of both population densities and long term growth potential. After all, the consumer city by definition has an experiential component, which includes what are often highly preferred physical environments, where the work of knowledge based endeavour can take place.

One problem for additional growth in important cities, are the geographic constraints themselves in which other forms of wealth are ultimately stored. Both knowledge product and income are being "parked" in real estate components which don't especially benefit from higher population densities. When cities were still producing more stuff, social constraints were likely not as strong against making more room for employees, as they are in the present. However, today's secondary markets don't need the high level of employment once associated with traditional manufacture.

Most important are the present monetary policy constraints, which suggest problems for further expansion of services formation in the near future. How so? The internal inflation of today's non tradable sector activity has already contributed to a gradual deflation in worldwide tradable sector activity. Which - in turn - would limit the time based services formation in today's cities, so long as it exists solely in a secondary market role.

This is just one reason why I have suggested time and knowledge based service formation as a primary market function. Eventually, a first mover construct for knowledge and time based services, would provide stronger structural means which could help overcome today's long term growth problems. Fortunately, it is possible to structure time value so that it represents actual product. And time value as product - instead of expense - could eventually restore tradable sector activity, in a stronger general equilibrium balance. Such balance is greatly needed, to restore the economic growth from which cities of the future would also benefit.