Economic & Trade Policy in Symbiotic Democracy
Core Principle:
Economic value is generated, exchanged, and reinvested through communities first, with trade networks connecting them. Profit is not the primary driver — mutual benefit, regenerative impact, and contribution-based rewards are.
How It Works
Recognized Economic Entities
The default legal/economic structures are:
Cooperatives – owned and run by members who use their services.
DAOs (Decentralized Autonomous Organizations) – digitally native cooperatives using blockchain-based governance.
Mutual Aid Networks – non-profit resource-sharing structures.
Community Enterprises – for-profit businesses with community ownership and profit-sharing.
Traditional corporations can still exist, but they must affiliate with a relevant community to operate.
Community Treasury Systems
Each community maintains a shared treasury — funded by:
Membership contributions (time, money, or resources).
Revenue from selling products/services.
Sponsorships or partnerships (brands must apply and be approved by the community).
Grants from higher-level federations.
Spending decisions are voted on by members using contribution-weighted or one-member-one-vote systems.
Inter-Community Trade
Communities trade with each other via a Federated Marketplace — a B2B platform where:
Goods and services are tagged with origin community.
Smart contracts handle payments, quality assurance, and revenue distribution.
Resource-sharing agreements (equipment, expertise, space) are logged for contribution credits.
Pricing models can be in fiat, community tokens, or mutual credit systems.
Commons-Based Licensing
Intellectual property created by a community defaults to shared commons licensing:
Any member community can use it for free.
External commercial use requires a licensing fee shared among contributors.
This encourages co-creation and shared innovation.
Corporate Participation Rules
Brands or external companies can:
Sponsor competitions, hackathons, or projects.
Join focus groups for feedback on their products.
Access rich community psychographic profiles (anonymized) for product research.
They cannot own or control the community — they’re guests, not rulers.
Value Measurement & Distribution
All economic transactions are logged in community ledgers.
AI-driven analytics measure:
Direct value generated (sales, savings).
Indirect value (skills developed, social capital, environmental impact).
Contributions are rewarded proportionally — in money, tokens, or privileges (e.g., governance influence, access to resources).
Economic Resilience
Multiple revenue streams per community (services, products, education, events).
Redundancy networks — communities can pool resources in crises (similar to how nature shares nutrients through mycorrhizal networks).
Localized production where possible (shorter supply chains, stronger local economies).
Example in Action
The Cycling Enthusiasts Community runs a DAO that organizes events, maintains bike repair stations, and sells locally made bike accessories.
They trade custom bike frames with the Metalsmiths Maker Community in exchange for marketing services from the Designers Cooperative.
A sports brand applies to run a design competition for new cycling gear — the community votes to accept and uses the sponsorship money to fund community bike lanes.
All members see a transparent record of income, spending, and contributor rewards.