So far, development of Modern Markets has been dominated by the profit motive. A next phase could be driven by an equally potent force: regional ambition.

Moon, shots

A search for competitive advantage by nations fueled the lunar landings, has started countless wars, and built trade empires. Less drastically, regional aspirations periodically lead governments to initiate new, economy-boosting, public infrastructure. In the case of Modern Markets, policymakers have unique powers of aggregation, regulation, promotion and access to licensing records. That leverage could create another choice for e-markets users.

Electricity, roads, water supply, postage, telephony; all started as tools for an elite. Then a first government created a legal framework that turned an emerging technology into the universal amenity we know today. Putting official facilities behind a nascent technology can slash costs, upend business models, and foster stable services. The resulting Public Utility Version of a new technology can be staggeringly popular.

We tend not to think about this kind of legislation. That’s an oversight by historians. Legal frameworks harnessing new technologies to create novel public infrastructure provided some of the most exciting hinge moments of the last 200 years. Your daily life now depends on those services.

In this section……

→  Public Utility Options: a Primer: Ignored, opposed, then self-evident.

→  Initiating a Public Utility Version of Modern Markets: Markets enabled by government.

→  The Policy/Politics Frame: What are the alternatives to this plan? And the optics?