Economics Minister/Coordinator

[Patroklus Murakami]

The RA held a brief discussion at its meeting on Sunday 8 February about Economic Development. During the discussion (transcript here)Symo asked me to kick off a discussion thread on the topic of having an Economics Minister or Coordinator for the CDS. Hence this post

This is not a new idea, as we noted at the RA meeting. We have previously considered whether it would be useful to have members of the CDS Government with special responsibility for Economic and Business Development (and possibly Arts & Culture and other useful things too). Economic Development is one of those issues which recurs from time to time; we have even held Commissions to look into 'what can be done' about it within the CDS. The idea of having a Minister (or Coordinator if we prefer a different title) would be that they take on board responsibility for promoting economic and business development; for discussing with CDS business owners measures to improve their businesses; for making the CDS an attractive place to do business in; for attracting innovators; for following through on the banking ideas that some of our forerunners developed. The main point is that having someone responsible is more likely to mean that things happen than if everyone is sort of responsible (which really means that no one is responsible!) It would mean someone devoting some of their time to this; to talking to people about what they want to see achieved and to working with them to make it a reality. It would also involve some accountability; if someone takes on the post promising x, y and z, it's possible to hold them to account for achieving this later.

We have previously discussed whether this ought to be an RA or Executive Branch post. It certainly feels like an Executive responsibility.

So, what do you think? Would this be a useful addition to the CDS Government? What should the Economics Minister's remit be? Does this need legislation to make it a reality? What would you like to see a Minister work on first? There are lots of possible questions to answer. Let's have some input.

[Sonja Strom]

This does make sense and could be a good idea. Such a position is considered important in RL democracies around the world.
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commerce_minister

[Jamie Palisades]

While working within our little government, I've been able to give some thought (by SL standards) to the "commercial economy" of CDS and SL. While we should take steps, I am not yet sure this one is the right one. At least from my end in the executive branch, I prefer only to recommend and do things that have a good chance of success.

If we're going to empower someone, they ought to have a defined and doable task and the means to implement it. Leaders of this type can only be effective if they donate substantial time and are creative and inclusive as well ... which is a significant set of skills. I'm also skeptical about a "czar" because I believe our slow "commercial" growth stems from environmental and local law issues, not from a lack of designated honcho. As you can see below, we've had honchos and attempted honchos. Naming one as a placebo wouldn't be enough, and might even distract us as a palliative from taking more effective steps that we actually need.

My own feeling is that our core CDS community brand -- our effective "competitive advantage" or "differentiator" as a micronation estate -- is in areas other than commerce.

But I agree that the subject of commercial economic development still merits continued consideration. I will propose some specific additional actions this term, as well as continuing to push forward on those we already discussed at the end of the 9th RA term, which include:

* Getting the available commercial land out for bid (note this includes the CN city space under Guild development).
* Permitting small-footprint rental spaces in some commercial zones, and fixing citizen/voting definition so as to permit this.

As background, here's a rough review of material events to date of which I'm aware. Corrections welcome. I will go back and add some backlinks, in a later posting to this thread, for people who want to review further.

- 5th? term: some spaces (loosely) designated as commercial, rents raised on those lots
- 6th? term: Merchant's Guild started, Never really gets off ground, founders do not act.
- 6th? term: Citizens' store opens on Marktplatz government land. with one or two local vendors' selling devices.
- 6th term: CDS citizens spin off several successful separate estates with significant commercial content, including SLNE.
- 7th term: Emporio Romani (fairly large retail) launches in CN.
- 7th term: CDS citizens spin off several successful separate estates with significant commercial content, including Al-Andalus.
- 8th term: Emporio Romani closes, never profitable.
- 8th term: Citizens store falls moribund, though temporary citizen booths at Oktoberfests still seem to be popular.
- 8th term: Toga shop takes over ER space, runs at a profit.
- 8th term: RA establishes Commerce Commission, meetings held, notes moribund NFS and CZ commercial zones, recommends (a) some restrictive zoning for best traffic commercial space, backed by rent penalties, and (b) new chamber of commerce.
- 8th term: Two factions push through commerce laws to implement Commission recommendation. A third faction successfully pushes for definition of "commerce" to include empty zero-traffic storefronts, e.g. housing political non-vendor activity.
- 8th term: Some RA members launch a Chamber of Commerce group.
- 9th term: New RA, with pro-political-storefront majority, repeals Commission bill, replaces it with a bidding-process plan, and recommendation to engage a consultant. New RA attacks nascent chamber of commerce group, shuts it down.
- 9th term: Toga shop closes when owners leave CDS.
- 9th term: SL (and arguably RL) macroeconomy crashes; metrics take an uncharacteristic dive; anecdotally, hundreds of SL malls close.
- 9th term: Executive branch interviews prospective consultants, finds no prospects with availability and relevant skill-set, but reports general findings to RA, including fundamental low-sim-traffic issue.
- 9th term: Increased events and programming apparently draws new citizens, fills in majority of unsold residential land. Commercial land still slow to sell; bidding process delayed while economy reels, some lots also need physical development.
- 10th term: Guild agrees to do some commercial plot redevelopment.

So, in our 10th government term, we have some challenges and opportunities to face. Let's talk.

Regards JP

[solomon mosely]

ok. i have been kicking this response around for a few days now and i know it says things i think are important, but i can't even read it anymore. i'm just going to let it loose for now and see what happens.....

i wish i could honestly say: "the real question here is....", but i dont think it's that easy. i think any role developed has to be, most importantly, a role that anyone wants to actually fill and follow through on. because even if someone is held accountable, what does that really mean? what are the consequences? the motivation can't only be loss of face or position, but satisfaction and tangible gain. i know that may sound silly, but if there are things that we all agree need to be done, why haven't they been done? have people really been waiting for permission or a gov't approved charter to take action to improve their business environment? why has this endeavor died so many times? the guild meetings (for the last couple months ive been here) always have people attending, active participation, and consistant leadership and willing volunteers. how does this get replicated for building economic growth and creativity like the guild does for aesthetics and physical development?

i think some things any new commerce office with an associated group of active citizen participation has to have is: clearly defined authority and process to make decisions and execute plans; engaging ongoing activities; clearly defined duties and roles; creative outlets for members; and most likely, direct involvement in cds short and long term goal setting and achievement.

this office would be about the business of business, profit. making money. does anybody make any money from their cds shops? what are the goods and services available here? do residents have small shops here for fun and profitable, larger businesses with shops and offices located off sim? i keep hearing that the cds is populated with some of sl's most acclaimed developers, so why isn't cds flooded with patrons who also stop to explore the rest of the sim? is the cds a place citizens take seriously as a profitable location? is this a "country home" for for many and a place to leave business behind? maybe a majority of residents just want to play business for fun and some creative expression and not really worry about sales and profit. which is absolutely fine, but does that warrant the creation of a new branch of office or accountable responsibility for anyone? when symo took a survey of citizen desires for sim life ("sim life", i like the sound of that....) over the summer people really didn't seem to care about making money. http://forums.slcds.info/viewtopic.php? ... vey#p11591 has that changed? maybe people have given up on making profit here after a while. is there a crew of hdevoted citizens looking to spearhead this and work to create a more profitable environment? or should we just skip it (like i think jaime was suggesting) for now and just let business owners get together, share resources, and plan events together on their own and see what evolves from there?

i am personally in favor of a new c of c ngo like a guild-style organisation.

[Justice Soothsayer]

I have to disagree with what Jamie wrote about developments of the last term or so, but I think I agree about the general conclusion.

There's little need to re-hash the pros and cons of last term's discussions over the ill-fated commerce bill. The conclusion to those discussions is that the original plan to raise rents on non-performing commercial plots has been repealed and though authority for a Chamber of Commerce is on our books, no one has come forward to put together a charter for a C of C that would be eligible to provide quasi-governmental work on commerge issues, which was a requirement imposed by last term's RA. I've never seen, or asked for, data about the profitability or not of Emporium Romani or the Toga Shop, and think Jamie's commens on that may be speculation. It is fair to conclude, though, that traffic through CDS is not much motivated by commerce, nor is commerce our biggest draw. Solomon is right to point to the survey results that making money isn't among our citizens' highest needs.

I haven't been convinced of the need for a Minister of Economics or another layer of bureaucracy. I'm looking forward to seeing the New Guild's redevelopment of CN's commercial area, as well as considering bills for allowing the sort of "small footprint" rentals that Jamie suggested. I do wonder if commercial areas (i.e. shops) might need more prims than we have typically allocated.

[Rose Springvale]

I can confirm that the Emporium was never profitable, not even discounting the cost of entertainment. We didn't earn enough to pay tier in any month. I think possibly the difference between the emporium and the toga shop was that the toga shop sold goods they made themselves, and the emporium shared profits with established businesses of high quality. The fact that none of them were interested in staying in CN as stand alone shops should give some conclusions as to the profits they made as well.

The prim issue continues to baffle me. If CN were the same as NFS, all sold out, then the lament that there are not enough prims for shopkeepers would make some sense. The reality is there are prims available in CN, through prim lots and unoccupied land. Our tier is very low, mostly because of the low prim allocation... so it only makes sense that one would need to buy more land to have more prims.

It is something to pay attention to in future sims though. More and more, people are becoming accustomed to bonus prims in sims, as we've done in Alpine Meadow and Locus Amoenus. Even double prims won't help the tiny fachwerk houses as commercial vendors... some of them have only 32 prims.

[symokurka]

Questions.

Are we maybe focusing too much on "shops" ?
No other ideas on what a diversified economy can be?
Are we sure we do not need to diversify our existing economic model? (1)
Are we sure we do NOT need a "Minister" or "someone devoting some of their time" where we are WEAK (this subject)?
And do we really need a "Minister" where we are strong (culture+events)??

(1) Try to define here: we are a "residential tier based economy", where the added value is purely the quality of our sims. And apart residential we do "only" have two main acrtivities: citizens live here for the democracy experiment + the high quality and quantity of events/cultural activities. Not bad indeed. But is this just a "first step" or is it the final one?

[solomon mosely]

well, symo and jamie are both right i think. maybe we should focus on the existing arts and culture as draw for quality commerce. find ways for bringing cds business to cultural events. like studio tours, and events through commercial areas. cultural events 'sponsored' by cds businesses. signage near museums. not to say we rename and have the " De Cuir's " amphitheater. i know things have been tried in the past, but maybe a new group think couldnt hurt. i think we can figure a way. a coordinator for such a group will be important, yes, but does it need to be an official gov't post yet? i think we should see what arises from this talk and what sort of citizen demand and participation there is for it.