Evonomics 101
Evonomics 101 describes economic systems as the transfer of discrete chunks of value between autonomous agents in contrast to financial systems built on the continuous transfer of value (money) between agents.
In all economic systems value transfer happens as a transaction where value is exchanged between two entities. Value can be in the form of money or in other goods and services.
Entities can transfer value over chunks of time. When this happens the value transferred can vary. Loans are where money is received after the transfer of goods and services.
An alternative provides goods and services at a discount for a prepayment of money.
The Financial System introduces third parties who only deal in money.
If groups of entities work together as a single entity then value transfers are internal and remove the need for a bank or other financial intermediary. For the group it removes the time cost of money.
Group agreements specifies how to distribute the savings and value to different internal entities.
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The group integrates into the economic system as a single entity so allowing the system to scale. Individual entities are members of many group entities and transfers of value between groups happens within entities. The resulting system is a collection of interlocking complex adaptive systems. Such systems evolve and change as the environment within which they operate changes.
Emergent Properties
An economic system following an evonomic model will have emergent properties. As they are emergent, we will not know if they emerge until we build or model the systems but we can make a guess on how evonomic systems will behave.
Replacing Money as the Measure of Progress
Success for a group is how well the group performs the task for which the group was formed. A group formed to invest in and buy renewable energy for itself will measure success by the amount of renewable energy consumed for the least cost. A group formed to reduce the amount of waste food will measure success by how much food is not thrown away.
Group Purpose will Drive Investment
The group determines how much benefit individual members of the group benefit from the group activities. One of those measures is the return on investment. This means an evonomic system can always out-perform a traditional economic system. It means those with money outside a group who want to get a return on investment from their money will need to join the group and operate on the group terms.
Governance by Consensus
Groups operate with a defined set of rules. Each group can set its own rules for its own purpose. If a member does not wish to operate within that set of rules they can move to another group with a more compatible set of rules or attempt to form another group with different rules.
The End of Kings
Assume an individual wishes to force others in a group to act against the best interests of others in the group. The individual is unlikely to maintain their dominance for long because the group can agree to change the rules to control the individual by excluding the individual from the group. The same idea applies to a group of groups. Because each individual is a member of many disparate groups even if they became a King in one group they are unlikely to become a King in all the groups.
