Technology projects initiated by policymakers can succeed dramatically. If this is one of them, effects will be wide and immediate.
Too big to flail
Convinced a government-led, tech-based, program must end in disaster? You ignore projects like the UK’s National Lottery.
A Conservative legislature passed the 1993 National Lottery Act. Eight consortia bid for an initial 7-year concession. Camelot, who won, then implemented in record time. A billion £1 tickets were purchased within 18 months. For its first double rollover, 96% of UK adults played.
Britain’s privately funded, state sanctioned, lottery suddenly – but sustainably – increased gambling in low-income communities. POEMs (Public Official E-Markets) aims for a comparable explosion of purposeful economic activity, with users’ self interest then unleashing three fundamental forces through the economy:
Accessible resources: Amazon exposes millions of barcoded products for effortless purchase. POEMs does it for rentals, skills, training, micro-capital, and more.- Higher spending: More options drives Induced demand. The value of reliability for POEMs’ sellers, its integral insurance markets, and the platform’s solidity, decimates transaction risks. A system with thousands of vibrant seamless sectors strips time required to buy.
Trust in the economy: Vital economic infrastructure becomes transparent and accountable with ultra-low transaction charges. Interfaces into welfare programs should attract activity out of shadow economies, broadening the tax base. Wall Street starts to democratize with a new asset-class; using POEMs’ comprehensive functionality to target, manage, scale, and trade investments in up-skilling and enabling of regular people.
These high-level factors translate – as examples – into 5 key outputs in 5 aspects of today’s economy:
→ Greening the micro-economy: Localized, circular, responsive; POEMs drives green growth.
→ Lifting the left-behinds: Impartial ladders, safety nets, personalized interventions.
→ Community resilience: Early interventions, mobilizing of resources, local controls.
→ Precision government: Uniquely adaptable and accountable, hyper-local controls.
→ Regional competitiveness: Stability, alignment; a lure for inward investors.