(This is part 7 of the Next Economic Paradigm Series)
The New Economic Paradigm
We have specified a structure for a new economic paradigm by simply substituting knowledge economy components to mimic the same functions as the existing structure as the existing financial system. The result is a completely new way for entrepreneurs to create wealth.
Putting The Pieces Together
A. In Part 1, we showed how Information could form a currency that is convertible to knowledge assets and then to innovation assets through a mathematical relationship.
B. In Part 2, The decimal classification and logic system provides a machine-enabled accounting and inventory system for knowledge assets.
C. In Part 3; we showed that The factors of production for the new economy are: social capital, creative capital, and intellectual capital.
D. In Part 4, we demonstrated that Social Networks could provide vetting, symmetric information, and self-regulation.
These ingredients illuminate the supply and the demand for knowledge assets outside the construct of traditional corporations, government, or academia; instead, they catalyzing innovation enterprise within and among social networks.
An economy is born
Entrepreneurs now have all the information that they need for matching surplus knowledge assets to deficit knowledge assets as a means of increasing productivity of these assets in a highly predictable manner. The Unit Business transaction can be assembled in infinite combinations to support countless ‘new-to-this-world’ innovation enterprise.
Money Represents Future Productivity
In short, money is created from debt. Banks are given the authority by a government through the fractional reserve system to literally scribe money into existence. This money is not backed by gold or silver, rather, money is backed by the promise of the borrower to pay it back in the future.
Ultimately, the value of money is a social agreement; a promise based on an estimation of future productivity. When those promises cannot be kept, the value of economy diminishes. When the promise is exceeded, the value of economy appreciates.
Blood brothers or distant cousins?
Debt and innovation have one very important feature in common; both are a proxy for future productivity. Therefore if debt can be used as a basis for a national currency, so can innovation. Everyone should be willing to honor the social agreement because the currency would not change, only the basis of the currency.
The only way to sustainably create more money is to increase human productivity. The only way to increase human productivity is to innovate.
The Risk Factor
Our financial system has developed over 400 years a variety of systems, methods and analysis tools to manage risk in monetary transactions. Innovation economics has applied the same system to the management of risk for transactions of knowledge assets. The correlation is as follows:
The Financial Bank: the entrepreneur assumes that they have the knowledge to execute a business plan and then they go to the financial bank to borrow the money. The remaining risks are knowledge related.
The Innovation Bank: the entrepreneur assumes that they have the money to execute a business plan and they go to the innovation bank to search for the knowledge. The remaining risk is finance related.
They hedge each other.
The Virtuous Circle
The more knowledge you can assemble, the more money you can borrow. The more money you can assemble, the more knowledge you can borrow. With both banks acting together – the risks cancel each other out and an economy of risk free innovation emerges.
Amalgamation of predicted cash flows
With a computer readable knowledge inventory, diverse communities of practice, a percentile search engine, and the virtuous circle of finance; cash flows associated with innovation enterprise can be predicted much more accurately and with far lower risk than any current innovation system.
Were risk is predictable, a portfolio of innovations can be diversifies so if one innovation fails there is an equal chance that another will succeed and the risks cancel each other out. The predicted combined cash flow of all the innovation enterprises can be depicted as a single large steady cash flow with low volatility.
Valuation and Monetization of Knowledge Assets
Much like companies raise money for expansion, the innovation bank can issue bonds on the open market. A bond is a debt based on future innovation and will act as the transitional instrument to monetize innovation economy. Options can be sold on futures of innovation enterprise.
For example: a bond can issued by a bank or a government with coupon price of 1000 dollars paying a risk adjusted interest rate and redeemable in 8 years. The proceeds can now be used to fund innovation enterprise which, by definition, are qualified and quantified on the basis of increased human productivity. Investors can buy options on promising algorithms for knowledge assets.
This system is exactly how mortgages are financed through global networks of bonds, options, and hedge funds. The current economic crisis happened because estimations of future human productivity failed to support the estimated value of the assets being represented.
The Innovation Economy is the hedge against financial crisis and consumption capitalism – now and in the future.
The New Gold Rush
Innovation Enterprise can easily exceed the 7-12% return that is normally expected on Wall Street. Venture Capitalists only entertain innovation expected to return 1000% return. There is a huge market of innovation enterprise in the regime between 12%-1000% that is currently uncapitalized. If innovation bonds and associated options return only 25% consistently, the flow of global capital will be intense and our nation will be transformed far beyond any current expectation. The opportunity is, however, even much greater than that; Innovation will reflect social priorities rather than Wall Street priorities.
The epiphany
The epiphany of innovation economics is that technological change must always precede economic growth. Humanity has been going about the process of globalization as if economic growth can precede technological change. This has been the singular flaw in modern market economics that has created the unsustainable system that we have today. The financial instrument of the innovation bond reverses this flaw and will open the next economic paradigm to extraordinary human progress.
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