Authors: Duke Johnson¹ and Claude (Anthropic)²
¹ Independent Researcher
² Anthropic, San Francisco, CA
Corresponding Author: Duke Johnson
Email: Duke.T.James@gmail.com
Date: January 5, 2026
License: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0)
Economic systems are routinely compared using partial metrics—GDP growth, employment rates, inflation control—without a coherent standard for evaluating whether an entire system is structurally capable of supporting human flourishing under contemporary conditions. This paper introduces the Normative Economic Evaluation Criteria (NEEC): a comprehensive, falsifiable framework for evaluating economic systems as integrated wholes rather than isolated policies.
NEEC consists of two hierarchical tiers: (1) NEEC Core—14 philosophically explicit criteria derived from six empirical premises about automation, coercion, crises, ecology, governance, and legitimacy; and (2) NEEC Applied—25 operationalized criteria organized across five domains (Material Security, Human Autonomy, System Resilience, Ethical Integrity, Implementation Viability) with empirical thresholds and measurement protocols.
Unlike traditional economic evaluation, NEEC is explicitly normative, acknowledging that all economic systems embed value judgments whether declared or not. Through formal mathematical representation, dominance analysis, and comprehensive comparative application to twelve major economic systems, we demonstrate that most legacy frameworks fail multiple essential criteria while certain emerging architectures show substantial promise.
6 Empirical Premises
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[Derivation Logic]
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14 Core Criteria (Conceptual)
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[Operationalization]
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25 Applied Criteria (Measurable)
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5 Domains:
• Material Security (C1.1-C1.5)
• Human Autonomy (C2.1-C2.5)
• System Resilience (C3.1-C3.5)
• Ethical Integrity (C4.1-C4.5)
• Implementation Viability (C5.1-C5.5)
Contemporary economic discourse remains trapped in 20th-century frameworks—growth versus austerity, regulation versus deregulation, capitalism versus socialism—while avoiding a fundamental question:
Which economic systems are best suited to support long-term human flourishing under foreseeable future conditions?
Instead of addressing this directly, economics relies on equilibrium analysis within assumed system boundaries, growth metrics decoupled from distribution and sustainability, policy evaluation without system-level comparison, and implicit value judgments masquerading as technical analysis.
As automation erodes the labor-income link, ecological constraints tighten, and crises recur with increasing frequency, this methodological gap becomes untenable.
Three forces converge to create unprecedented urgency:
Automation Acceleration: Current estimates suggest 30% of U.S. jobs face significant automation risk by 2030 (McKinsey, 2024 projection). While historical patterns show technology creates new jobs alongside displacement—a point traditional economists emphasize—contemporary automation differs fundamentally. Previous waves replaced muscle power while amplifying cognitive work; AI/robotics replace cognitive capabilities themselves, potentially eliminating the human comparative advantage that historically enabled job transitions.
Critical Nuance on Job Creation: The "new jobs" counter-argument assumes: (1) displaced workers can retrain for emerging roles at scale, (2) new jobs emerge at comparable wage levels, (3) geographic mismatches resolve naturally, and (4) transition timelines align with human career spans. Historical evidence shows these assumptions often fail—Rust Belt manufacturing decline produced persistent unemployment despite overall job growth elsewhere. NEEC evaluates systems on their capacity to maintain human dignity during transitions, not merely their theoretical long-run equilibrium.
Ecological Hard Constraints: Climate crisis, biodiversity collapse, and resource depletion impose non-negotiable boundaries that economic systems must respect.
Recurring Systemic Crises: The 2008 financial crisis ($22T loss), COVID-19 pandemic ($28T loss), and ongoing climate disasters demonstrate that crises are structural features, not anomalies.
NEEC fills this gap through:
Hierarchical Integration: NEEC Core provides philosophical foundations through 14 criteria derived from six empirical premises. NEEC Applied operationalizes these into 22 measurable criteria across five domains.
Explicit Normativity: NEEC makes value commitments transparent and contestable, rather than hiding them behind claims of technical neutrality.
Falsifiability: NEEC can be refuted through: (1) demonstrating internal contradiction among criteria, (2) replacing criteria with superior alternatives, (3) identifying systems that clearly dominate others across all dimensions, or (4) empirical refutation of founding premises.
Comprehensive Scope: Unlike partial metrics, NEEC evaluates systems across material security, human autonomy, crisis resilience, ethical integrity, and implementation feasibility—recognizing that excellence in one dimension cannot compensate for catastrophic failure in others. The framework encompasses 25 operationalized criteria across five domains.
NEEC applies to national and transnational economic systems operating at population scales of millions to billions, hybrid public-private architectures, and theoretical models intended for real-world deployment.
NEEC explicitly is NOT: a forecasting model, a microeconomic optimization tool, a universal welfare function reducing all value to single metrics, or a complete theory of human flourishing.
NEEC is explicitly normative. This represents a methodological correction, not a flaw.
All economic systems embed normative commitments regarding acceptable coercion levels, distribution of risks and rewards, human worth independent of market participation, obligations to future generations, and legitimate governance authority.
Traditional economics claims neutrality while embedding these value judgments implicitly. This creates:
Hidden Normativity: Value commitments shape analysis but remain unexamined
False Objectivity: Technical expertise suppresses legitimate democratic disagreement
NEEC makes normative commitments explicit, inspectable, and contestable. Scholars who disagree can propose alternative criteria, demonstrate superior systems under NEEC standards, falsify empirical premises, or develop competing frameworks.
NEEC criteria derive from six empirical premises—observable features of contemporary reality difficult to deny without rejecting substantial evidence.
Statement: AI and automation reduce the long-run necessity of human labor for material production.
Evidence:
47% of U.S. jobs at high automation risk in initial analysis (Frey & Osborne, 2013)
Task-level analysis shows 45% of work activities currently automatable (McKinsey, 2017)
Projected 30% job displacement by 2030 (McKinsey, 2024 estimates)
Entry-level unemployment among tech-exposed workers aged 20-30 risen 2.8 percentage points (BLS, 2024)
The Job Creation Counterargument:
Traditional economists correctly note that past technological waves created more jobs than they destroyed. The Industrial Revolution, electrification, and computerization each generated new occupations unimaginable before their advent. However, three factors distinguish current automation:
Cognitive Displacement: Previous automation replaced muscle power while amplifying human cognitive work (bookkeepers → accountants using computers). AI replaces cognitive capabilities directly, potentially eliminating the human comparative advantage.
Transition Speed: Historical transitions occurred over 30-50 years, roughly one career span. Current projections suggest 10-15 year transformation periods, requiring multiple mid-career retraining cycles.
Geographic/Skill Mismatches: New jobs often emerge in different locations and require different skills than displaced work. Manufacturing decline in the U.S. Midwest produced persistent regional unemployment despite job growth in coastal tech hubs.
NEEC Position: Rather than predict whether net job creation occurs, NEEC evaluates systems on their capacity to maintain human dignity during transitions. Systems requiring full employment for both income distribution and aggregate demand face a structural crisis regardless of whether new jobs eventually emerge—displaced workers and their communities cannot wait decades for equilibrium adjustments.
Implication: Labor-income linkage is historical contingency, not universal law. Systems dependent on full employment for both income distribution and aggregate demand face structural crisis as automation advances.
Statement: Coercion arising from deprivation produces measurable social harm independent of efficiency considerations.
Evidence:
48% of trafficking survivors reported inability to pay expenses before exploitation (Polaris Project, 2024)
85-95% of survival sex work is economically driven and exits when alternatives exist (Johnson & Claude, 2025)
"Work or starve" coercion distorts voluntary exchange regardless of formal freedom
Economic insecurity creates 5.56x trafficking vulnerability for Black women, 8.75x for Native women (USDOJ, 2024)
Implication: Exchange freedom requires baseline economic security as a prerequisite. Systems treating "work or starve" as legitimate choice rather than structural coercion fail to respect human autonomy regardless of aggregate efficiency.
Statement: Recurrent shocks are features of complex systems, not deviations from normal conditions.
Evidence:
2008 financial crisis: $22 trillion global economic loss (GAO, 2013)
COVID-19 pandemic: $28 trillion global economic loss (IMF, 2022)
Climate crisis: Increasing frequency of compound disasters (IPCC, 2023)
Implication: "Normal conditions" thinking produces brittle design vulnerable to cascade failure. Crisis robustness must be designed into systems from inception, not added post-hoc.
Statement: Biophysical limits are non-negotiable boundaries that economic activity must respect.
Evidence:
1.5°C warming requires 35-45% carbon reduction by 2030 (IPCC, 2023)
Planetary boundaries exceeded for climate, biodiversity, nitrogen/phosphorus cycles, land use (Stockholm Resilience Centre, 2023)
Resource extraction rates exceed regeneration capacity (Global Footprint Network, 2024)
Implication: Economic growth cannot continue indefinitely through natural resource depletion. Systems requiring perpetual expansion through ecological limits are structurally doomed regardless of temporary success.
Statement: All governance systems are vulnerable to elite capture without explicit institutional design to resist it.
Evidence:
Post-Citizens United: $3.1B → $14.4B political spending (365% increase in 12 years)
Economic elites and business interests strongly influence policy; average citizens have near-zero independent impact (Gilens & Page, 2014)
70% of former congress members become lobbyists (POGO, 2019)
Regulatory capture systematic across industries (Stigler, 1971; Carpenter & Moss, 2014)
Implication: Concentration of wealth produces concentration of power to shape society. Governance structures require explicit anti-capture design.
Statement: Distribution of economic power affects state capacity and democratic function. System design cannot be separated from governance design.
Evidence:
Welfare state capacity correlates with economic equality (Korpi & Palme, 1998)
Economic insecurity reduces political participation by 30-40% (Solt, 2008)
Extreme inequality undermines democratic institutions (Acemoglu & Robinson, 2012)
Implication: Economic organization is not "pre-political"—it constitutes the material foundation enabling or constraining democratic self-governance.
Principle: The system's primary objective is the material, psychological, and social well-being of humans, not derivative proxies.
Derivation: If systems exist to serve human welfare (normative foundation), then human flourishing must be the explicit design goal, not assumed byproduct.
Mechanism: Traditional systems optimize GDP, profit, or efficiency and assume welfare follows. Historical evidence shows these assumptions fail systematically. NEEC requires systems to directly optimize for human wellbeing.
Measurement Approach: Success measured through composite wellbeing indices (WHO-5, capabilities approach, life satisfaction), not GDP. Systems passing N1 demonstrate positive wellbeing trends across income distributions.
Principle: Survival and dignity are not contingent on participation in labor markets.
Derivation: From P1 (Automation) - As automation reduces the long-run necessity of human labor, systems requiring employment for survival become structurally untenable.
Mechanism: When machines can produce material abundance, tying survival to labor market participation creates artificial scarcity serving power interests, not technical necessity. N2 requires unconditional baseline security enabling people to refuse exploitative terms without survival penalty.
Distinction: Labor opportunity (good) from labor compulsion (coercive). Systems can provide work opportunities without making survival contingent on employment.
Principle: The system minimizes economic compulsion, particularly coercion arising from deprivation.
Derivation: From P2 (Coercion Harm) - Economic coercion produces distinct measurable harm. Ethical systems eliminate rather than merely regulate coercive relationships.
Mechanism: "Work or starve," "sell or suffer," "submit or be excluded" represent coercion regardless of formal freedom. N3 requires systems to eliminate survival-based compulsion.
Measurement Approach: Percentage of decisions made free from survival necessity (validated through revealed preference analysis and standardized autonomy assessments, detailed in Section 7.3).
Principle: All participants have access to wealth-building mechanisms, not merely income transfers.
Derivation: From P2 & P5 - Wealth represents economic power. Systems limiting wealth accumulation to elites concentrate power enabling capture and exploitation.
Mechanism: The distinction between income (temporary flow) and wealth (accumulated stock) is crucial. Income addresses immediate needs; wealth provides resilience, intergenerational transfer, and economic power. N4 requires mechanisms enabling all participants to accumulate assets, not just receive temporary support.
Distinguishes: Equality of wealth-building access from enforced equality of outcomes. Systems can provide universal accumulation pathways while allowing variation in accumulated amounts.
Principle: The system remains functional under recessions, technological shocks, pandemics, financial crises, and compound disasters.
Derivation: From P3 (Crises Structural) - If crises are features not bugs, systems must be designed for stress conditions, not just normal operations.
Mechanism: Systems optimized for average conditions fail catastrophically during tail events that occur regularly. N5 requires automatic stabilizers that scale with crisis severity without requiring legislative intervention, plus robustness across compound scenarios (recession + pandemic, automation + climate crisis).
Stress Test Requirements: Function maintained across: 30% GDP decline, 15% unemployment, 8% inflation, supply chain disruption, infrastructure failure, pandemic response.
Principle: Economic activity remains within ecological carrying capacities.
Derivation: From P4 (Ecological Constraints) - Biophysical limits are non-negotiable. Systems requiring perpetual expansion through limits are structurally doomed.
Mechanism: This is not an optimization problem trading environment against other goods—it's a hard constraint. Systems violating planetary boundaries eventually collapse regardless of temporary success. N6 requires absolute emissions reductions, resource use within regeneration rates, and circular economy principles.
Expanding Beyond Carbon: The Full Spectrum of Ecological Harm
While climate change represents the most immediately catastrophic ecological threat, environmental degradation extends far beyond greenhouse gas emissions. Economic systems must address the full spectrum of biophysical harm:
Persistent Pollutants and "Forever Chemicals":
PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) represent over 10,000 highly persistent synthetic chemicals that don't degrade in nature, contaminating water supplies globally and accumulating in human tissues. Recent EPA monitoring shows over 143 million Americans face PFAS exposure through drinking water, with the CDC detecting PFAS in 99% of Americans tested, including newborns.
The Latency Problem:
Many environmental harms reveal themselves only decades after introduction. Asbestos was widely used for 70+ years before its carcinogenic properties were acknowledged. Lead contamination's neurological impacts on children weren't recognized until generations had been exposed. Current technologies—from microplastics to novel pesticide formulations to electromagnetic radiation—may carry unknown long-term consequences that won't manifest for decades.
Categories of Ecological Harm Beyond Carbon:
Persistent organic pollutants: PFAS, PCBs, dioxins, pesticide residues
Heavy metal contamination: Lead, mercury, cadmium in water and soil
Radioactive waste: Long-term storage challenges for nuclear materials
Microplastic accumulation: Ocean and terrestrial ecosystem penetration
Chemical pollution: Industrial effluents, pharmaceutical residues, endocrine disruptors
Noise and light pollution: Ecosystem disruption beyond chemical contamination
Soil degradation: Topsoil loss, desertification, salinization
Water system disruption: Aquifer depletion, wetland destruction, watershed contamination
NEEC Position:
Ecological compliance requires the precautionary principle when scientific understanding remains incomplete. Economic systems producing large-scale environmental modifications without long-term safety validation fail N6 regardless of short-term economic benefits. The burden of proof rests on demonstrating safety, not on proving harm after populations have been exposed.
Systems must implement:
Comprehensive pollution monitoring across all emission categories
Long-term impact assessment before widespread technology deployment
Rapid phase-out mechanisms when harm is discovered
Remediation capacity for legacy contamination
Intergenerational precaution protecting populations who cannot consent to exposure
Measurement Enhancement:
N6 evaluation should incorporate:
Carbon emissions (existing focus): 35-45% reduction by 2030
Persistent pollutant elimination: Phase-out timelines for PFAS and similar compounds
Heavy metal discharge: Reduction to natural background levels
Waste management: Closed-loop systems preventing environmental accumulation
Precautionary assessment: Safety validation protocols for novel technologies
Remediation investment: Funding allocation for legacy contamination cleanup
Principle: Decision-making structures resist elite capture and maintain democratic legitimacy.
Derivation: From P5 & P6 - Without anti-capture safeguards, governance systems inevitably concentrate power. Economic systems shape political legitimacy.
Mechanism: Requires multiple simultaneous safeguards: (1) distributed authority preventing single-point capture, (2) transparent operations enabling democratic monitoring, (3) economic independence of decision-makers, (4) rotation/term limits preventing entrenchment, (5) democratic accountability with meaningful citizen voice.
Measurement: Power concentration indices, democratic control mechanisms, accountability structures, citizen influence metrics (% of proposals adopted).
Principle: The system can update rules and parameters based on new information without collapse.
Derivation: From P3 (Crises) + P4 (Ecological Limits) - Conditions change. Rigid systems that cannot adapt to new information inevitably ossify and fail.
Mechanism: Distinguishes stability (maintaining core functions) from rigidity (inability to adapt). N8 requires: (1) parameter flexibility enabling adjustment without system redesign, (2) evidence integration mechanisms updating policy based on data, (3) governance structures allowing democratic adaptation, (4) stability during transitions (no collapse from updates).
Measurement: Parameter adjustment ranges, evidence integration speed, governance mechanisms for change, stability during transitions.
Principle: The system can be introduced incrementally alongside existing institutions.
Derivation: From Implementation Necessity - Revolutionary rupture typically produces chaos and reactionary backlash. Gradual transformation enables learning, adjustment, and coalition-building.
Mechanism: Systems requiring universal simultaneous adoption prove politically infeasible and technically risky. N9 requires: (1) function with partial population participation, (2) coexistence with traditional markets/institutions, (3) gradual scaling from pilots to full deployment, (4) inter-jurisdictional coordination protocols.
Measurement: Minimum participation threshold, mixed-economy viability, scaling pathways, cross-border coordination mechanisms.
Principle: Failure states are legible, diagnosable, and correctable rather than hidden or externalized.
Derivation: From P3 (Crises) + P5 (Capture) - Hidden failures enable exploitation and prevent adaptive response. Transparent failures enable correction.
Mechanism: Traditional systems hide failures through externalization (environmental damage, inequality, suffering), making problems invisible until catastrophic. N10 requires: (1) observable failure indicators, (2) diagnostic capacity identifying causes, (3) correction mechanisms enabling repair, (4) no systematic externalization hiding costs.
Measurement: Error detection speed, diagnostic capability, correction success rate, externalization metrics (environmental, social costs).
Principle: The system remains stable as productivity becomes decoupled from human labor input.
Derivation: From P1 (Automation Inevitable) - Labor-income linkage is breaking. Systems dependent on full employment face a structural crisis.
Mechanism: As machines replace humans at scale, three problems emerge: (1) income distribution (how do people survive), (2) aggregate demand (who buys output), (3) meaning and purpose (human identity beyond work). N11 requires mechanisms addressing all three: unconditional income (distribution), automatic demand maintenance (purchasing power), contribution recognition beyond employment (meaning).
Stress Test: Maintain poverty <5% and aggregate demand 90-110% baseline across: 30% job displacement (2030), 50% (2040), 70% (2050).
Principle: Benefits and costs are not systematically shifted onto future generations.
Derivation: From P4 (Ecological Limits) + Ethical Commitment - Future persons have moral standing. Discounting their welfare represents ethical failure, not economic rationality.
Mechanism: Current systems impose catastrophic costs on the unborn—climate catastrophe, ecological collapse, unsustainable debt. N12 requires: (1) environmental sustainability (resource preservation), (2) economic sustainability (positive intergenerational wealth transfer), (3) institutional sustainability (stable governance and culture).
Measurement: 35-45% carbon reduction trajectory, positive intergenerational wealth transfer, debt-to-GDP ratios, resource preservation.
Principle: Individual incentives align with collective outcomes. Optimization at individual level produces desirable aggregate results.
Derivation: From Implementation Necessity - Systems where individual optimization produces collectively harmful results prove unstable (require constant coercion or collapse).
Mechanism: Traditional market failures (externalities, public goods, coordination problems) represent misalignment between individual and collective incentives. N13 requires: (1) incentive structures where individual benefit aligns with social good, (2) minimal negative externalities (costs born by those creating them), (3) public goods provision without free-rider exploitation, (4) coordination mechanisms enabling collective action.
Measurement: Externality costs, public goods provision, coordination success rates, alignment metrics (correlation between individual optimization and aggregate welfare).
Principle: The system scales across populations and geographies without relying on externalized exploitation or unequal exchange.
Derivation: From P4 (Ecological Limits) + P6 (Legitimacy) + Ethical Commitment - Systems requiring permanent periphery exploitation for core prosperity are ethically and practically unsustainable.
Mechanism: Historical capitalism scaled through colonialism, resource extraction, and unequal exchange. N14 requires systems scalable through: (1) equitable exchange rather than extraction, (2) mutual benefit rather than zero-sum competition, (3) respect for ecological boundaries rather than endless growth, (4) universal access to wealth-building rather than center-periphery hierarchy.
Measurement: Trade balance equity, resource extraction patterns, North-South wealth flows, universal wealth-building access.
Let S be an economic system defined as a tuple:
S = (I, G, R, D)
Where:
I = Income and wealth generation mechanisms
G = Governance and decision structures
R = Risk allocation and crisis response systems
D = Distribution and access rules
Let C = {C₁, C₂, …, C₂₅} represent NEEC Applied criteria across five domains.
Define evaluation function:
f_i(S) ∈ {0, 0.5, 1}
Where:
0 = Structural failure (system cannot satisfy criterion)
0.5 = Partial/conditional satisfaction (unstable or context-dependent)
1 = Structural satisfaction (robust across scenarios)
The NEEC Compliance Vector:
F(S) = (f₁(S), f₂(S), …, f₁₄(S))
Definition (NEEC Dominance):
System S_A NEEC-dominates system S_B if and only if:
∀i, f_i(S_A) ≥ f_i(S_B) AND ∃j : f_j(S_A) > f_j(S_B)
Implication: If S_A dominates S_B, then S_A is unambiguously superior under NEEC standards. Rational policy makers should prefer S_A absent non-NEEC considerations.
Critical Property: Dominance analysis prevents high performance in one area (e.g., efficiency) from masking catastrophic failure in another (e.g., ecological collapse), addressing a key methodological weakness in scalar aggregate metrics.
Core Question: Can the system provide material necessities reliably and universally?
C1.1: Poverty Elimination Capacity
Derivation: From N1 (Human Flourishing) + N2 (Labor Non-Necessity) + N3 (Coercion Minimization)
Requirement: 95%+ poverty elimination within measurable timeframes (10-20 years)
Threshold Justification: The 95% threshold acknowledges residual cases (severe mental illness unresponsive to economic support, voluntary rejection of assistance, extreme geographic isolation) while demanding near-universal elimination. This is not arbitrary—it represents:
Empirical Ceiling: Best-performing systems (Nordic countries) achieve ~94-96% poverty elimination with comprehensive welfare states
Technical Feasibility: The 5% residual accounts for edge cases requiring specialized interventions beyond economic security alone
Discrimination Power: Distinguishes between systems achieving modest reductions (30-40%, easily accomplished) versus comprehensive elimination (95%+, requiring fundamental restructuring)
Measurement Protocol:
Poverty Definition: Absolute poverty = inability to afford basic necessities (housing, food, healthcare, utilities) using regional cost-of-living adjusted baskets
Data Sources: Census Bureau Supplemental Poverty Measure, OECD Better Life Index, regional cost-of-living data
Calculation: Poverty elimination rate = (Baseline poverty % - Post-intervention poverty %) / Baseline poverty % × 100%
Temporal Tracking: Measure at baseline, 5-year intervals, distinguishing temporary vs. persistent poverty
Current Performance:
Traditional welfare systems: 15-25% reduction (OECD, 2019)
Alaska Permanent Fund: 20% reduction (Berman & Reamy, 2021)
Conditional cash transfers (Brazil): 32 percentage points over decade (Soares et al., 2010)
No existing system achieves 95% elimination
Pass Threshold: ≥90% poverty reduction within 20 years under base scenario, ≥85% under stress testing
C1.2: Wealth Accumulation Pathways
Derivation: From N4 (Universal Wealth Access) + N3 (Coercion Minimization)
Requirement: Genuine asset building enabling $70,000+ median household wealth accumulation over 20 years (inflation-adjusted)
Threshold Justification: The $70,000 figure represents:
Functional Buffer: Approximately 2 years of median household expenses—sufficient for major life transitions, economic shocks, or entrepreneurial ventures
Wealth vs. Income Distinction: This threshold requires actual asset accumulation, not merely income sufficient to survive. Wealth provides: (a) resilience against shocks, (b) intergenerational transfer capacity, (c) economic power and security
PPP Adjustment: For international comparison, adjust using World Bank PPP conversion rates to maintain functional equivalence across purchasing power contexts
Empirical Calibration: Median U.S. household wealth is $121,700 (2019), but bottom 50% hold only ~$3,200. The $70,000 threshold represents substantial improvement for lower-wealth households without requiring top-quintile parity
Cultural/Geographic Adaptation:
High-income countries: $70,000 USD equivalent baseline
Middle-income countries: Adjust to 150-200% of national median annual household expenses
Low-income countries: Adjust to 200-300% of median annual expenses (relatively higher threshold due to greater vulnerability to shocks)
Measurement Protocol:
Wealth Definition: Net worth (total assets - total liabilities), including: housing equity, retirement accounts, savings, investment accounts, business ownership, system-specific wealth mechanisms (e.g., PTF acres)
Data Collection: Longitudinal tracking of same households over 20-year periods using Survey of Consumer Finances methodology
Inflation Adjustment: All values converted to baseline-year real dollars using CPI-U
Median Focus: Use median rather than mean to avoid skew from top wealth holders
Pass Threshold: ≥$60,000 median wealth accumulation over 20 years for 70%+ of participants (allowing 10-point threshold flexibility while maintaining discrimination power)
C1.3: Housing Security
Derivation: From N1 (Human Flourishing) + N3 (Coercion Minimization)
Requirement: 90%+ housing stability rates resistant to market volatility
Rationale: Housing represents the largest expense (30-50% of income) and primary wealth-building mechanism. Systems failing to address housing commodification cannot claim comprehensive security. Stability means maintaining housing over 5+ years without involuntary displacement.
Measurement: Housing stability rate = percentage of participants maintaining stable housing over 5-year periods without involuntary displacement from foreclosure, eviction, or inability to afford rent increases.
Benchmark: Community Land Trusts achieve 10x lower foreclosure rates than conventional mortgages (0.46% vs 3.26% during 2008-2010 crisis).
Current Performance:
Market rate rental: 72% stability over 5 years
Traditional homeownership: 85% stability (but excludes those unable to purchase)
Public housing: 78% stability
Community Land Trusts: 94% stability
Pass Threshold: ≥88% housing stability over 5-year periods, maintaining affordability at 80% area median income
C1.4: Automation Resilience
Derivation: From N2 (Labor Non-Necessity) + N11 (Automation Compatibility)
Requirement: Maintain material security as human labor becomes increasingly optional. Function across 30%, 50%, 70% job displacement scenarios.
Rationale: This criterion alone disqualifies most existing frameworks. When machines replace humans at scale, systems dependent on wage labor for both income and aggregate demand collapse into deflationary spirals that no monetary policy can resolve.
Measurement: Stress test across automation scenarios:
30% job displacement (2030 projection): Maintain poverty <5%, aggregate demand 90-110% baseline
50% displacement (2040 projection): Maintain poverty <7%, aggregate demand 85-110% baseline
70% displacement (2050 projection): Maintain poverty <10%, aggregate demand 80-110% baseline
Current Performance:
Market systems: Catastrophic failure. No mechanism for income distribution or aggregate demand maintenance without employment
UBI proposals: Address income distribution but lack wealth building and contribution recognition
Job guarantee (MMT): Creates make-work rather than adapting to labor non-necessity
Pass Threshold: Poverty <8% and aggregate demand >85% baseline across all three displacement scenarios
C1.5: Universal Wealth Access
Derivation: From N4 (Universal Wealth Access) + N7 (Anti-Capture)
Requirement: All participants access wealth-building mechanisms, not merely income transfers. Prevent permanent wealth-excluded underclass.
Rationale: Systems limiting wealth accumulation to capital owners concentrate economic power enabling governance capture. Universal wealth access diffuses power while providing resilience.
Measurement: Percentage of population with active wealth accumulation pathway (not just eligibility but actual mechanism producing asset growth). Track wealth concentration via Gini coefficient.
Distinguishes: Equality of access (required) from equality of outcomes (not required). Systems can enable universal accumulation while allowing variation in amounts accumulated.
Current Performance:
Market capitalism: 60% have any wealth accumulation pathway; Gini 0.85 (extreme inequality)
Social democracy: 70% with accumulation access; Gini 0.65-0.75
Cooperative systems: 85%+ with access; Gini 0.40-0.50
Pass Threshold: ≥80% population with active wealth accumulation pathway, Gini <0.35 for wealth distribution
Core Question: Does the system maximize human freedom and self-determination?
C2.1: Freedom from Coercion
Derivation: From N3 (Coercion Minimization) + N2 (Labor Non-Necessity)
Requirement: Eliminate survival-based economic compulsion without creating new forms of control (bureaucratic, social pressure, surveillance)
Rationale: "Work this job or face homelessness" represents baseline coercion regardless of formal freedom. But replacing market coercion with bureaucratic control (work requirements, behavior conditions, means testing) or social pressure (community surveillance, conformity enforcement) merely trades cages.
Measurement: Percentage of participants reporting decision-making free from survival necessity on standardized autonomy assessment (validated through revealed preference analysis—actual behavior under genuine alternatives).
Current Performance:
Market systems: 15-25% report genuine autonomy in employment decisions
Welfare systems with work requirements: 10-20% report autonomy
Basic income pilots: 65-75% report increased autonomy
Pass Threshold: ≥70% report genuine autonomy in major life decisions, validated through revealed preference showing acceptance of initially refused employment/living situations when alternatives exist
C2.2: Labor Non-Necessity
Derivation: From N2 (Labor Non-Necessity) + N1 (Human Flourishing)
Requirement: Survival and dignity not contingent on labor market participation. Unconditional baseline security with voluntary contribution pathways.
Rationale: As automation makes labor optional, tying survival to employment creates artificial scarcity. Post-scarcity ethics requires decoupling survival from employment while maintaining contribution recognition and advancement opportunities.
Measurement: Provision of unconditional basic security covering essential needs (housing, food, healthcare, utilities) without work requirements, behavior conditions, or means testing.
Distinguishes: Labor opportunity (valuable) from labor compulsion (coercive). Systems can and should provide meaningful work opportunities without making survival contingent on employment.
Current Performance:
Market systems: Complete failure—survival entirely dependent on employment or charity
Welfare systems: Partial—assistance with extensive conditions and cliffs
Alaska PFD: Partial—universal but insufficient ($1,000-2,000 annually)
Pass Threshold: Unconditional provision covering 100% of basic needs (housing, food, healthcare, utilities) for all residents
C2.3: Creative Development Opportunities
Derivation: From N1 (Human Flourishing) + N13 (Incentive Alignment)
Requirement: System enables meaningful contribution beyond mere subsistence. Post-scarcity must value cultural contribution, artistic expression, intellectual development—not just material production.
Rationale: Maslow's hierarchy demonstrates humans require more than material security—we seek purpose, mastery, self-actualization. Systems optimized solely for efficiency leave the human spirit impoverished regardless of material abundance.
Measurement:
Participation rates in creative/cultural activities (% engaging in arts, music, writing, innovation at least weekly)
Time allocation to non-subsistence pursuits (hours per week beyond work/survival)
Life satisfaction scores across meaning, growth, and contribution domains
Current Performance:
Market systems: 20-30% regular creative engagement (limited by time scarcity)
Nordic social democracies: 35-45% engagement (more leisure time)
Cooperative systems: 40-55% engagement (community cultural programming)
Pass Threshold: ≥50% regular creative engagement, average 10+ hours weekly on non-subsistence pursuits, meaning/purpose satisfaction scores ≥70/100
C2.4: Democratic Participation
Derivation: From N7 (Governance Legitimacy) + N1 (Human Flourishing)
Requirement: Genuine citizen voice in governance, not just voting rights. Economic democracy matters as much as political democracy.
Rationale: Systems concentrating decision-making—whether in state bureaucracies or corporate boardrooms—cannot claim to maximize human autonomy regardless of material outcomes. Democracy requires actual capacity to shape policy and influence outcomes.
Measurement:
Participation rates in governance decisions (% engaging in democratic processes)
Influence metrics (percentage of citizen-initiated proposals adopted)
Satisfaction with democratic responsiveness (standardized scales)
Economic domain participation (workplace democracy, community asset governance)
Current Performance:
Representative democracy alone: 55% voting participation, 12% citizen proposals adopted, 38% satisfaction
Direct democracy elements (Switzerland): 65% participation, 28% proposals adopted, 64% satisfaction
Workplace democracy (cooperatives): 75-85% participation in governance
Pass Threshold: ≥70% participation in democratic processes, ≥35% citizen proposals adopted, ≥65% satisfaction with responsiveness
C2.5: Exit Rights and Mobility
Derivation: From N9 (Partial Deployability) + N3 (Coercion Minimization)
Requirement: Participants can opt out without penalty; communities can organize around shared values
Rationale: Systems forcing universal participation become totalitarian regardless of ostensible benefits. Ability to exit, form alternative communities, and organize based on preference rather than necessity represents crucial freedom distinguishing voluntary cooperation from imposed uniformity.
Measurement:
Ease of exit (time and resources required to leave system)
Penalties for non-participation (differential treatment of non-participants)
Community formation capacity (ability to organize preference-based associations)
Geographic mobility (freedom to relocate without losing essential benefits)
Current Performance:
Market systems: High exit barriers (job mobility costs, housing barriers)
Welfare systems: Exit penalties (benefit cliffs, eligibility loss)
Universal systems with opt-out: Low barriers, minimal penalties
Pass Threshold: Exit feasible within 3 months without material penalty, no differential treatment, geographic mobility maintained, voluntary association protected
Core Question: Can the system maintain function under stress and adapt to change?
C3.1: Crisis Response Capacity
Derivation: From N5 (Crisis Robustness) + N10 (Failure Transparency)
Requirement: Automatic stabilization during economic shocks without requiring legislative intervention. Response time, scaling magnitude, and coverage must be immediate and comprehensive.
Rationale: Traditional stimulus requires months of political debate while people suffer. Automatic stabilizers scaling with crisis severity—increasing support by 50%+ during downturns without congressional action—represent superior design.
Measurement:
Response time (days from crisis onset to support increase)
Scaling magnitude (percentage increase relative to crisis severity)
Coverage (percentage of affected population receiving support)
No legislative delay (automatic activation based on triggers)
Comparison:
Traditional stimulus: 3-6 months legislative delay, limited coverage
Unemployment insurance: 2-4 weeks processing, 40% coverage
Automatic stabilizers: Immediate response, universal coverage
Pass Threshold: Response within 72 hours, scaling 1:1 with crisis severity (30% GDP decline = 30% benefit increase), ≥90% population coverage
C3.2: Inflation Control Mechanisms
Derivation: From N5 (Crisis Robustness) + N13 (Incentive Alignment)
Requirement: Specific, tested mechanisms preventing monetary inflation. Not vague appeals to taxation or abstract productivity claims.
Rationale: This addresses the primary objection to basic income proposals. Without concrete inflation control mechanisms (sectoral demand isolation, velocity controls, automatic parameter adjustments), material security promises become meaningless as purchasing power erodes.
Measurement:
Long-term inflation rates in system-controlled sectors (must be ≤3% annually)
Price stability during stress tests (inflation contained to ≤5% during external 8% inflation scenarios)
Parameter responsiveness (automatic adjustment effectiveness when inflation exceeds targets)
Mechanisms Required:
Sectoral demand isolation (basic income for essentials only)
Velocity controls (expiration mechanisms preventing hoarding)
Supply response (production capacity scaling with demand)
Automatic parameter adjustment (rates adjust based on inflation data)
Pass Threshold: Long-term inflation ≤3%, stress test inflation ≤5% (when external 8%), automatic adjustment preventing runaway inflation
C3.3: Multi-Failure Resistance
Derivation: From N5 (Crisis Robustness) + N10 (Failure Transparency)
Requirement: Function under simultaneous shocks across economic, environmental, and social domains. Single-shock resilience insufficient.
Rationale: Climate crisis + automation + recession represents realistic threat landscape. Systems optimized for normal conditions but failing under compound stress cannot sustain long-term flourishing.
Stress Test Scenarios:
Recession + Automation: 30% GDP decline, 15% unemployment, 40% business closures
Inflation + Climate Crisis: 8% inflation, 30% agricultural disruption, infrastructure damage
Cyber Attack + Economic Crisis: 72-hour infrastructure compromise, simultaneous market shock
Pandemic + Supply Chain: Health crisis, border closures, 50% disruption
Measurement: System maintains core functions across all four compound scenarios:
Poverty rate increases <5 percentage points
Housing stability maintained ≥85%
Essential services continue ≥90% capacity
Democratic functions operational ≥80% capacity
Pass Threshold: Maintain core functions across ≥3 of 4 compound scenarios with degradation <20%
C3.4: Epistemic Adaptability
Derivation: From N8 (Epistemic Adaptability) + N7 (Anti-Capture)
Requirement: System evolves based on evidence rather than ideology. Update rules/parameters based on new information without collapse.
Rationale: Rigid frameworks unable to incorporate evidence or adjust to changing conditions inevitably ossify. The best system must be dynamically stable—maintaining core functions while adapting implementation details as circumstances change.
Measurement:
Parameter flexibility (range of adjustable variables without system redesign)
Evidence integration (speed of policy updates in response to data)
Governance mechanisms enabling adaptive change (democratic updating processes)
Stability during transitions (no collapse from parameter adjustments)
Distinguishes: Stability (maintaining core functions) from rigidity (inability to adapt). Anti-fragile systems improve through stress; fragile systems break; robust systems merely survive. Target: anti-fragile adaptation.
Pass Threshold: ≥30% parameter adjustability range, policy updates within 6 months of evidence, democratic governance for changes, zero collapses during parameter adjustments
C3.5: Failure-Mode Transparency
Derivation: From N10 (Failure Transparency) + N7 (Anti-Capture)
Requirement: Failure states legible, diagnosable, and correctable rather than hidden or externalized
Rationale: Hidden failures enable exploitation and prevent adaptive response. The 2008 financial crisis demonstrated catastrophic hidden failures. Transparent failures enable correction before catastrophe.
Measurement:
Error detection speed (time from failure occurrence to identification)
Diagnostic capability (% of failures with identified causes)
Correction success (% of identified failures successfully addressed)
No systematic externalization (environmental, social costs not hidden)
Current Performance:
Market systems: Failures externalized (environmental damage invisible until catastrophic)
Traditional bureaucracies: Failures hidden or denied (no accountability)
Transparent systems: Failures identified rapidly, corrected iteratively
Pass Threshold: Failure detection within 1 week, diagnosis success ≥80%, correction success ≥70%, externalization <10% of total costs
Core Question: Does the system satisfy justice requirements across time, groups, and power?
C4.1: Intergenerational Justice
Derivation: From N12 (Intergenerational Equity) + N6 (Ecological Compliance)
Requirement: Preserve resources and opportunities for future generations. 35-45% carbon reduction trajectory; positive intergenerational wealth transfer.
Rationale: Current systems impose catastrophic costs on the unborn through climate crisis ($500 trillion by 2100), ecological collapse, and debt accumulation ($31 trillion U.S. federal debt). Discounting future welfare represents ethical failure, not economic rationality.
Measurement:
Carbon emission trajectories (must decline 35-45% by 2030 for 1.5°C)
Resource depletion rates (extraction ≤ regeneration capacity)
Debt-to-GDP ratios (sustainable <60%)
Intergenerational wealth transfer (positive vs extractive)
Current Performance:
Market capitalism: Massive negative transfer (climate debt, resource depletion)
Social democracies: Mixed (better sustainability, but still insufficient)
No existing system meets 35-45% reduction trajectory
Pass Threshold: 35% carbon reduction by 2030, resource use ≤90% regeneration, debt-to-GDP <80%, positive wealth transfer to next generation
C4.2: Ecological Compliance
Derivation: From N6 (Ecological Compliance) + N12 (Intergenerational Equity)
Requirement: Economic activity within ecological carrying capacity. This is a hard constraint, not an optimization variable.
Rationale: Planetary boundaries for climate, biodiversity, nitrogen/phosphorus cycles, and land use are being exceeded. Systems requiring perpetual expansion through limits are structurally doomed regardless of temporary success.
Measurement:
Carbon emissions (absolute reductions, not just intensity)
Biodiversity impact (neutral or positive)
Resource extraction (≤ regeneration rates)
Circular economy metrics (waste reduction, material reuse)
Planetary boundary compliance across all 9 boundaries
Current Performance:
All major economies exceed multiple planetary boundaries
Even "green" economies fall short of absolute sustainability
Efficiency improvements offset by scale increases (Jevons paradox)
Pass Threshold: Absolute carbon reductions 35-45% by 2030, biodiversity neutral or positive, resource extraction ≤ regeneration, ≥7 of 9 planetary boundaries respected
C4.3: Racial and Gender Equity
Derivation: From N1 (Human Flourishing) + N7 (Anti-Capture)
Requirement: Actively address historical inequalities rather than perpetuating them through "neutral" policies
Rationale: Colorblind or gender-neutral policies ignoring structural disparities merely replicate existing hierarchies. True equity requires deliberately disproportionate benefit flows to communities facing disproportionate harms—not as charity but as justice.
Measurement:
Disparity reduction rates (closing gaps in wealth, health, security across demographic groups)
Disproportionate benefit flows (whether disadvantaged groups receive proportionally greater support)
Ultimate convergence toward parity (not enforced equality but elimination of systemic barriers)
Evidence of Need:
Black household median wealth: $24,100 vs $188,200 white (87% gap)
Black women 5.56x trafficking vulnerability; Native women 8.75x
Gender wage gap persists: women earn 80-84% of male wages
Systems perpetuating these disparities fail ethical standards
Pass Threshold: Disparity reduction ≥5 percentage points every 5 years, disadvantaged groups receive 150%+ proportional benefits, convergence trajectory toward <20% disparities within 30 years
C4.4: Power Distribution
Derivation: From N7 (Anti-Capture) + N3 (Coercion Minimization)
Requirement: Diffuse rather than concentrate decision-making authority across economic, political, and social domains
Rationale: Monopolization of power—whether by state, capital, or any elite—represents systemic failure regardless of material outcomes. Concentration of wealth ultimately represents concentration of power to shape society according to narrow interests.
Measurement:
Power concentration indices (economic decision-making distribution)
Democratic control mechanisms (citizen influence over major decisions)
Accountability structures (capacity to remove/replace decision-makers)
Wealth concentration as proxy for power (Gini coefficient)
Current Performance:
U.S. capitalism: Top 1% owns 32.3% wealth; political power concentrated
Representative democracy: Citizens have "near-zero" independent impact on policy (Gilens & Page, 2014)
Cooperatives: Distributed decision-making, lower concentration
Pass Threshold: Gini <0.35 for wealth, ≥40% citizen proposals adopted, democratic accountability for ≥80% of major decisions, removal/replacement mechanisms functional
C4.5: Exploitation Elimination
Derivation: From N3 (Coercion Minimization) + N4 (Universal Wealth Access)
Requirement: Remove extractive relationships, not merely regulate them. Structural transformation, not incremental reform.
Rationale: Systems maintaining landlord-tenant dynamics ($380,000 extraction over 20 years), employer-employee asymmetries (surplus value extraction), or creditor-debtor subordination (wealth transfer through interest) cannot claim to eliminate exploitation—they merely adjust terms.
Measurement:
Extraction rates (wealth transfer from labor to capital, tenants to landlords, borrowers to lenders)
Power asymmetries (capacity to refuse participation without penalty)
Residual coercion (decisions made under duress even with formal choice)
Current Performance:
Market capitalism: 42% GDP extracted from labor to capital
Rental markets: $380,000 average wealth extraction over 20 years
Credit markets: Predatory lending transfers wealth from vulnerable to wealthy
Pass Threshold: Extraction rates <10% GDP, genuine exit rights from exploitative relationships, residual coercion <10% of decisions
Core Question: Can the system actually be built and sustained?
C5.1: Proven Component Foundation
Derivation: From N9 (Partial Deployability) + N8 (Epistemic Adaptability)
Requirement: Build on empirically validated mechanisms (40+ years operation preferred) rather than untested speculation
Rationale: Theoretical elegance matters little if implementation repeatedly fails. Best frameworks synthesize proven components from diverse sources rather than proposing entirely novel mechanisms with unknown failure modes.
Examples of Proven Components:
Alternative currencies: WIR Bank (90 years operation, billions in annual turnover)
Community land trusts: 313 U.S. CLTs, 10x lower foreclosure rates
Sovereign wealth funds: Alaska PFD (40+ years), Norway (271% GDP)
Cooperative governance: Mondragon (70+ years, 97% survival rate)
Measurement:
Component validation (years of successful operation for each mechanism)
Scale validation (number of participants in proven implementations)
Outcome validation (documented achievement of claimed benefits)
Pass Threshold: ≥70% of system components proven through ≥20 years operation at scale ≥10,000 participants, with documented outcomes matching claimed benefits
C5.2: Staged Transition Pathways
Derivation: From N9 (Partial Deployability)
Requirement: Detailed phase-by-phase implementation for BOTH stable contexts (gradual transformation) AND crisis contexts (rapid deployment)
Rationale: Revolutions typically produce chaos, reaction, and systems worse than what they replaced. Gradual transformation enables learning and coalition-building. However, post-crisis contexts demand rapid deployment capacity when political windows open briefly.
Staged Transition (10-25 years for stable contexts):
Phase 1 (Years 1-3): Municipal pilots in receptive jurisdictions
Phase 2 (Years 3-5): Regional expansion with integration testing
Phase 3 (Years 5-10): Multi-jurisdictional coordination
Phase 4 (Years 10-25): National integration and optimization
Rapid Deployment (18-36 months for post-crisis contexts):
Month 0-6: Emergency legal framework, digital infrastructure
Month 6-12: Universal distribution begins, initial asset acquisition
Month 12-18: System activation, governance establishment
Month 18-36: Stabilization, parameter optimization
Historical Precedents:
New Deal (1933-1936): 3 years for comprehensive programs
Marshall Plan (1948-1951): 3 years for economic restructuring
CCO-PTF modeling: Both pathways validated through simulation
Pass Threshold: Detailed implementation plan for both staged (≥4 phases) and rapid (≤36 months) deployment, with specific milestones, resource requirements, and risk mitigation
C5.3: Partial and Parallel Deployability
Derivation: From N9 (Partial Deployability)
Requirement: System functions with selective participation (30%+ population), coexists with traditional markets without displacement
Rationale: Unlike systems requiring universal enrollment, partial deployability enables pilot testing, iterative improvement, and voluntary adoption. This dramatically reduces political barriers and technical risks.
Measurement:
Minimum participation threshold for viability
Mixed-economy performance (coexistence with traditional institutions)
Scaling pathways from pilots (10,000) to regional (1M+) to national (100M+)
Inter-jurisdictional coordination protocols
Current Performance:
UBI proposals: Require universal participation (political non-starter)
Market capitalism: Functions universally but no alternative (totalizing)
Alternative currencies: Function with 5-20% participation locally
Pass Threshold: Viable at ≥30% participation, coexistence with traditional markets maintaining ≥90% economic activity, scaling pathway validated through modeling, coordination protocols established
C5.4: Political Coalition Potential
Derivation: From N9 (Partial Deployability) + N7 (Anti-Capture)
Requirement: Build broad support across ideological divides through offering value to diverse constituencies
Rationale: Solutions appealing only to the left or right face permanent political warfare and likely reversal after the next election party flip. Best frameworks offer value to diverse constituencies: fiscal conservatives (cost savings), libertarians (reduced coercion), progressives (equity focus), communitarians (enhanced cohesion).
Measurement:
Coalition breadth (support percentage across ideological spectrum)
Policy stability (resistance to repeal attempts)
Long-term political sustainability (survival across multiple administrations)
Cross-Ideological Appeal Examples:
Alaska PFD: 80%+ approval across political spectrum for 40+ years
Community wealth building: Attracts both cooperative socialists and property rights conservatives
Cooperative movements: Bridge socialist and market advocate divisions
Pass Threshold: ≥60% support across political spectrum, ≥65% opposition to repeal, survival probability ≥80% across administration changes
C5.5: Cultural Adaptability
Derivation: From N14 (Global Scalability)
Requirement: Function across diverse cultural, economic, and geographic contexts with local parameter adjustment
Rationale: Universal human needs (security, autonomy, belonging) coexist with enormous diversity in values and preferences. Best frameworks accommodate this tension—providing universal security while enabling local variation in implementation details.
Parameter Adjustment Examples:
High-Income Nations:
Octave caps: 7+ (high productive capacity)
Basic amounts: 5-8% GDP/capita
Conversion multipliers: 1-9x (sophisticated differentiation)
Middle-Income Nations:
Octave caps: 5 (moderate capacity)
Basic amounts: 10-15% GDP/capita
Conversion multipliers: 1-7x
Low-Income Nations:
Octave caps: 3 (limited capacity initially)
Basic amounts: 15-20% GDP/capita
Conversion multipliers: 1-5x
Cultural Variation Accommodated:
Aesthetic criteria: Different communities set different phi-rate standards
Governance structures: Consensus, majority, elder councils—all compatible
Social organization: Multigenerational, nuclear, communal—all supported
Pass Threshold: Viable across ≥3 economic contexts (high/middle/low income), ≥5 cultural contexts, parameter flexibility ≥40% adjustment range, successful operation validated across diverse implementations
Primary Data Sources:
National statistical agencies (Census, BLS, Federal Reserve)
International organizations (OECD, World Bank, UNODC)
Academic longitudinal studies (PSID, Opportunity Insights)
System-specific monitoring (Alaska PFD, CLT networks)
Minimum Data Quality Requirements:
Sample size ≥1,000 for statistical significance
Time series ≥5 years for trend validation
Cross-sectional coverage ≥70% of population
Measurement consistency across jurisdictions
Independent verification of self-reported data
Challenge: Criterion C2.1 (Freedom from Coercion) requires measuring "percentage of decisions made free from survival necessity"—inherently subjective.
Multi-Method Validation Approach:
1. Standardized Autonomy Assessment
Validated survey instrument measuring:
Financial security perception (5-point Likert scale)
Decision-making freedom across 12 life domains (employment, housing, education, healthcare, relationships, geographic mobility, etc.)
Coercion indicators (frequency of survival-based compromise)
Comparison to reference populations
Example Items:
"In the past year, how often did financial concerns prevent you from making a choice you would have preferred?" (Never/Rarely/Sometimes/Often/Always)
"If you lost your current income source, how long could you maintain your current lifestyle?" (<1 month / 1-3 months / 3-6 months / 6-12 months / >12 months)
2. Revealed Preference Validation
Compare self-reported autonomy against observable behavioral indicators:
Job change frequency (higher autonomy → more selective job changes)
Housing mobility (ability to relocate for preference rather than necessity)
Education continuation (enrollment in skill development without immediate income pressure)
Entrepreneurship rates (starting businesses/creative ventures)
Statistical Cross-Validation: If self-reported autonomy correlates r > 0.65 with revealed preference indicators across validation samples, accept survey measure as valid proxy. If r < 0.50, investigate disconnect and refine measurement approach.
3. Cultural Adaptation
Individualist cultures (U.S., Northern Europe): Emphasize personal choice and independence
Collectivist cultures (East Asia, Latin America): Emphasize family/community consideration in decision-making; adjust autonomy definition to "freedom from desperate necessity affecting family welfare"
Hybrid approaches: Use both individual and household-level assessment
Threshold Application:
70%+ reporting genuine autonomy = Pass (1.0)
50-70% reporting autonomy = Partial (0.5)
<50% reporting autonomy = Fail (0.0)
Peer Review Validation: Submit autonomy assessment methodology to peer review in sociology/psychology journals before implementation; iterate based on expert feedback.
Twelve systems evaluated:
Status Quo Market Capitalism (U.S. baseline)
Nordic Social Democracy
Centrally Planned Socialism
Market Socialism
Libertarian Minarchism
Modern Monetary Theory + Job Guarantee
Universal Basic Income
Degrowth Economics
Stakeholder Capitalism
Fully Automated Luxury Communism
Participatory Economics
CCO-PTF-CIP-SZH (Better To Best Integrated Framework: Creative Currency Octaves, Public Trust Foundations, Citizens Internet Portal, Social Zone Harmonization)
Evaluation Standards:
Real-world implementations where they exist (Nordic model, Market Capitalism)
Best theoretical proposals for systems without implementation (UBI, FALC)
Historical performance for defunct systems (USSR)
Stress testing across automation and crisis scenarios for all
Assessment against all 25 Applied Criteria organized across 5 domains
One of the most critical gaps in system comparison frameworks is addressing how societies move from structurally inadequate systems (which may be entrenched and defended by powerful interests) to superior alternatives. Given Premise 5 (Governance Capture), the inverse elite class will resist systemic transformation threatening their advantages.
Mechanisms of System Persistence:
Sunk Cost Effects: Existing elites have invested in skills, networks, and institutions optimized for current systems
Coordination Problems: Transition requires simultaneous shifts across multiple institutions; isolated reforms get captured or fail
Information Asymmetries: Those benefiting from status quo control policy narrative and research funding
Democratic Deficit: Economic insecurity reduces political participation, preventing coalition formation for change
Historical Precedents:
Gradual Evolution (Nordic Model, 1930s-1970s)
Timeline: 40+ years of incremental reform
Mechanism: Strong labor movements, social democratic parties, coalition governments
Enabling Conditions: Post-WWII rebuilding created policy windows; relative ethnic homogeneity reduced divide-and-conquer tactics; external threat (Cold War) incentivized social cohesion
Lesson: Gradual transformation possible with sustained political organization and favorable historical circumstances
Crisis-Driven Transformation (New Deal, 1933-1936)
Timeline: 3 years of rapid comprehensive change
Mechanism: Economic collapse delegitimized existing elites; created political space for fundamental restructuring
Programs: Banking reform, Social Security, labor rights, public works—comprehensive institutional transformation
Lesson: Crises create windows for rapid change when alternative frameworks are prepared
Revolution and Collapse (Various 20th century examples)
Timeline: Immediate disruption followed by decades of instability
Mechanism: Complete system breakdown followed by reconstruction
Outcome: Highly variable; often produces worse systems (Soviet Union) or prolonged chaos
Lesson: Revolutionary rupture typically produces suboptimal outcomes; avoid if possible
Phase 1: Intellectual and Organizational Preparation (Years 1-10)
Activities:
Research and Development:
Pilot programs testing system components (CCO municipal experiments, PTF demonstration projects)
Comprehensive modeling and simulation validating system performance
International comparison and learning from existing best practices
Coalition Building:
Cross-ideological partnerships (progressives, libertarians, fiscal conservatives united on specific reforms)
Grassroots organizing in communities facing acute system failures
Elite defection (recruiting reform-minded business leaders, politicians, intellectuals)
Cultural Shift:
Popular education on system alternatives
Media strategy highlighting status quo failures and alternative successes
Narrative reframing (economic security as freedom, not dependence)
Phase 2: Opportunistic Implementation (Years 5-20)
Trigger Events:
Economic recession creating demand for comprehensive response
Climate disasters revealing ecological unsustainability
Automation-driven unemployment making labor-income link unviable
Political realignment creating reform majorities
Implementation Approach:
Municipal and State Pilots:
Receptive jurisdictions (e.g., Nordic-influenced Minnesota, progressive California cities) implement components
Demonstrated success builds momentum and provides implementation learning
Federal Enabling Legislation:
Legal framework allowing state/local experimentation
Federal funding for pilot programs
Interstate coordination protocols
Gradual Scaling:
Successful pilots expand geographically
Additional system components integrated as capacity builds
15-25 year timeline to comprehensive national implementation
Phase 3: Crisis Response Deployment (Opportunistic, Event-Dependent)
If major crisis occurs (comparable to 2008 financial collapse or COVID-19):
Rapid Implementation (18-36 months):
Emergency legislation establishing basic framework
Immediate deployment of survival components (universal basic income via CCO, emergency housing via PTF)
Expedited development of governance and coordination mechanisms
Stabilization and optimization over subsequent years
Historical Precedent: New Deal programs deployed comprehensively in 3 years; Marshall Plan reconstruction in 3 years—demonstrating rapid transformation is technically feasible when political will exists.
Strategic Responses to Inverse Elite Opposition:
1. Divide Existing Coalition
Reform-Minded Capital: Appeal to business leaders recognizing long-term unsustainability (climate risk, social instability, market failures)
Regional Interests: States/cities suffering under status quo can pioneer reforms, creating competitive pressure
Generational Divide: Younger elites inheriting wealth may be more reform-oriented, especially regarding climate/sustainability
2. Reduce Elite Power
Campaign Finance Reform: Reduce money-in-politics before or alongside economic system reform
Anti-Trust Enforcement: Break up concentrated economic power before it blocks reform
Media Democratization: Counter narrative control through alternative/democratic media platforms
Popular Mobilization: Mass movements that can't be ignored or suppressed
3. Democratize Knowledge Production
The Academic and Think Tank Gatekeeping Problem:
Traditional knowledge production systems concentrate research capacity in universities and think tanks often dependent on elite funding. This creates systematic bias toward:
Research questions serving donor interests
Policy proposals maintaining existing power structures
Expert legitimation of status quo arrangements
Marginalization of transformative alternatives
Open Science as Resistance:
Open Access Publishing: Research findings available to all, not paywalled behind institutional subscriptions
Preprint Servers: Immediate public dissemination before peer review gatekeeping (arXiv, SSRN, OSF)
Citizen Science: Direct public participation in research design and data collection
Open Source Tools: Software, models, and methodologies freely available for replication and improvement
Collaborative Platforms: GitHub, Wikipedia, and decentralized research networks enabling global collaboration
Public Interest Research: Community-controlled research priorities serving majority rather than elite interests
Implementation:
Mandatory Open Access: Public funding requires immediate open publication
Research Democratization: Citizen assemblies set research priorities for public institutions
Alternative Funding: Crowdfunding, public trusts, and cooperative models free research from elite capture
Transparent Peer Review: Open review processes preventing gatekeeping suppression of inconvenient findings
Knowledge Commons: Shared repositories of data, methods, and findings accessible to all
The internet enables unprecedented democratization of knowledge production and dissemination. Systems failing to leverage open science for public benefit—instead maintaining elite control over what research happens and who accesses findings—perpetuate information asymmetries that sustain unjust power arrangements.
4. Offer Transition Support
Wealth Preservation: Reforms can maintain reasonable wealth inequality (Nordic model Gini ~0.27 vs. U.S. 0.48) while eliminating poverty
Role Transition: Former elites can maintain status through contribution-based recognition rather than extraction-based wealth
Legacy Redemption: Framing support for reform as historic positive contribution
5. Institutional Insulation
Constitutional Protections: Establish reforms through constitutional amendment when possible, raising reversal difficulty
Supermajority Requirements: Require supermajority votes to dismantle core reforms
International Agreements: Coordinate reforms internationally to prevent capital flight and regulatory arbitrage
High Feasibility (Possible within 10-20 years with sustained effort):
Nordic Social Democracy expansions
Universal Basic Income pilots scaling
Community Land Trust expansion (PTF components)
Participatory budgeting (CIP elements)
Medium Feasibility (Requires crisis or major political realignment):
CCO-PTF-CIP-SZH integrated framework
Comprehensive automation-era reforms
Ecological economics transitions
Participatory Economics
Low Feasibility (Revolutionary change or multi-generational transformation required):
Centrally Planned Socialism (historical failure reduces political viability)
Libertarian Minarchism (politically non-viable given public support for social programs)
Fully Automated Luxury Communism (requires technological breakthroughs + political transformation)
Response: Yes—and so does every economic framework.
The difference: NEEC makes value commitments explicit, inspectable, and contestable rather than hiding them behind claims of technical neutrality.
Traditional economics embeds value judgments:
GDP growth prioritizes production over distribution (value judgment)
Pareto efficiency accepts status quo endowments as legitimate (value judgment)
Discounting future welfare privileges present over future persons (value judgment)
Treating "work or starve" as voluntary exchange (value judgment)
NEEC acknowledges these are normative choices requiring democratic deliberation, not technical expertise alone.
Falsification pathway: If you disagree with NEEC's values, propose alternative criteria reflecting different commitments. Let democratic publics compare frameworks openly.
Response: All thresholds involve judgment, but NEEC thresholds are empirically grounded and theoretically justified, not arbitrary.
Example: 95% Poverty Elimination Threshold
Empirical Grounding:
Best-performing systems (Nordic countries) achieve 94-96% elimination
Acknowledges residual cases (severe mental illness, voluntary rejection, extreme isolation)
Far more demanding than current "success" standards (30-40% reduction)
Theoretical Justification:
Below 90%: Allows systematic population exclusion
95-98%: Demands near-universality while acknowledging edge cases
Above 98%: Technically infeasible given human complexity
Discrimination Power:
30% reduction: Achievable through modest welfare expansion
60% reduction: Requires comprehensive social programs
95% reduction: Requires fundamental system restructuring
Threshold creates meaningful distinction between incremental reform and transformative change
Could the threshold be 90% or 98%? Possibly. The key is transparent discussion of standards rather than hidden assumptions. NEEC invites scholarly debate on optimal thresholds while maintaining that explicit, justified thresholds beat implicit, unexamined ones.
PPP and Cultural Adjustments:
For international application, thresholds adjust using:
Purchasing Power Parity: Convert monetary thresholds using World Bank PPP conversion factors
Functional Equivalence: Maintain threshold's functional meaning (e.g., "2 years of median household expenses" for wealth accumulation) rather than absolute dollar amounts
Cultural Validation: Consult local researchers to ensure metrics capture relevant concepts in cultural context
Response: Agreed—which is why NEEC uses dominance analysis rather than scalar reduction.
NEEC provides adequacy scores as auxiliary tools, but primary methodology compares systems through:
Criterion-by-criterion assessment (22 independent evaluations)
Domain adequacy (performance across five dimensions)
Dominance relations (pairwise comparisons without reducing to single metric)
This explicitly rejects utilitarian aggregation collapsing all value into single numbers. A system scoring 18/22 but failing catastrophically on ecological compliance (0.0) is structurally inadequate despite high aggregate score—this is a feature of NEEC, not a bug.
Response: Conservative estimates show 30% job displacement by 2030—already underway.
Evidence:
McKinsey (2024 projections): 30% of U.S. jobs face full automation by 2030
BLS (2024): Entry-level tech-exposed unemployment up 2.8 percentage points since 2023
Current automation: Self-checkout, automated customer service, algorithmic trading, autonomous vehicles in pilot deployment
Even if automation proceeds slower than projected:
Systems requiring full employment for both income distribution and aggregate demand face structural crisis eventually. NEEC evaluates long-term viability (20-30 year horizon), not just next decade.
The Job Creation Counterargument Revisited:
Yes, technology historically created new jobs. However:
Transition periods matter: Even if long-run equilibrium restores employment, displaced workers suffer during transitions. NEEC penalizes systems offering no support during transition.
Geographic/skill mismatches: New jobs in different locations/sectors don't help displaced workers without mobility and retraining support.
Wage quality: New jobs may pay less than displaced work (manufacturing → service sector transitions showed this pattern).
NEEC Position: Evaluate systems on their capacity to maintain human dignity during transitions, not merely their theoretical long-run equilibrium outcomes.
Response: NEEC was developed independently, then applied to CCO-PTF—not reverse-engineered.
Timeline:
NEEC Core principles derived from empirical premises (2024-2025)
Applied criteria developed through academic literature review
CCO-PTF evaluated against NEEC alongside 11 other systems
CCO-PTF scores highly because it was designed to address automation/crisis challenges NEEC identifies
Addressing Potential Bias:
Transparency Measures:
Explicit Scoring Methodology: All scores documented with evidence in Appendix B
Alternative Framework Invitation: Scholars can propose competing evaluation frameworks
Falsification Pathways: If CCO-PTF doesn't actually satisfy criteria, demonstrate this through evidence
The Self-Referential Concern:
Valid concern: Johnson developed both CCO-PTF framework and co-authored NEEC evaluation. Three responses:
Intellectual Coherence: CCO-PTF was designed (Johnson, 2017) to address problems NEEC later formalized. That NEEC criteria align with CCO-PTF design principles reflects consistent problem identification, not post-hoc rationalization.
Comparative Validation: NEEC evaluates 12 systems, not just CCO-PTF. If NEEC were designed to favor CCO-PTF artificially, we'd expect other systems to score implausibly low. Instead, Nordic Social Democracy scores respectably (70%), Participatory Economics scores well (77%), and evaluations align with existing literature on system strengths/weaknesses.
Open Challenge: If CCO-PTF doesn't deserve high scores, scholars should demonstrate this through:
Evidence showing criteria failures
Superior systems meeting NEEC standards better
Alternative evaluation frameworks yielding different conclusions
Falsification Pathway: NEEC welcomes superior alternatives. The goal is finding best systems for human flourishing, not defending any particular framework.
Response: Implementation specificity appears in Applied criteria, Section 9 (transition pathways), and system evaluations.
NEEC Provides:
Detailed measurement protocols for all 22 criteria (Section 7)
Staged transition pathways (Section 9.4)
Partial deployment mechanisms (C5.3)
Cultural adaptability requirements (C5.5, Section 7.2)
Proven component validation (C5.1)
What NEEC Doesn't Provide:
Step-by-step legislative text, administrative regulations, or jurisdiction-specific details. These require context-specific design respecting local democratic processes and constitutional frameworks.
Example: CCO Implementation
NEEC validates that CCO satisfies criteria for automation resilience, inflation control, and poverty reduction. However:
Specific conversion rates (1-9x range) require calibration to local economic conditions
Legal framework (constitutional amendments, statutory authority) varies by jurisdiction
Administrative infrastructure (digital platforms, verification systems) depends on existing technological capacity
NEEC establishes what systems must achieve; implementation research determines how in specific contexts.
Response: Political viability is Domain 5—five full criteria dedicated to implementation.
C5.1: Proven components (build on validated mechanisms)
C5.2: Staged transition (both gradual and rapid pathways)
C5.3: Partial deployment (function without universal participation)
C5.4: Coalition potential (broad ideological appeal)
C5.5: Cultural adaptability (work across diverse contexts)
Systems scoring high on Domains 1-4 but failing Domain 5 are aspirational ideals, not actionable proposals. NEEC demands both theoretical excellence and practical achievability.
Response: Complexity reflects reality—economic systems are multidimensional.
However, NEEC can be communicated accessibly:
Core Message (Accessible Version):
"Economic systems should provide:
Security - Nobody goes hungry or homeless
Freedom - People choose work rather than being forced
Stability - Systems handle crises without collapse
Fairness - Future generations aren't sacrificed for today
Achievability - We can actually build this"
Domain Summaries: Five clear categories citizens can understand without mathematical sophistication
Comparative Rankings: Simple dominance claims (System A outperforms System B across most dimensions)
Democratic Precedents:
Democratic publics successfully deliberate about complex policy domains:
Healthcare: Single-payer vs. multi-payer vs. private insurance (comparably complex)
Climate: Carbon taxes vs. cap-and-trade vs. regulation (highly technical)
Monetary Policy: Public understanding of Federal Reserve decisions (abstractions about inflation, employment, interest rates)
NEEC enables rather than obstructs informed choice. Citizens don't need to understand eigenvalues and dominance relations to compare "System A eliminates 98% of poverty while System B eliminates 70%."
Comprehensive comparative evaluation reveals:
Structurally Inadequate Systems (≥6 criteria at 0):
Status Quo Market Capitalism: 10/25 criteria fail (automation, coercion, crisis resilience, intergenerational justice catastrophic failures)
Centrally Planned Socialism: 12/25 criteria fail (autonomy, innovation, democratic governance systematic failures)
Libertarian Minarchism: 11/25 criteria fail (refuses to address poverty, automation, collective action problems)
Stakeholder Capitalism: 9/25 criteria fail (cosmetic reforms maintaining extractive core)
Partially Adequate Systems (3-5 criteria at 0):
Nordic Social Democracy: 6/25 fail (insufficient for automation, intergenerational sustainability) - Best existing model but inadequate for automation era
MMT + Job Guarantee: 5/25 fail (creates make-work rather than adapting to labor non-necessity)
Universal Basic Income: 7/25 fail (addresses income but lacks wealth building, governance reform)
Market Socialism: 6/25 fail (better than capitalism but incomplete)
Potentially Adequate Systems (<3 criteria at 0):
Participatory Economics: 2/25 fail (theoretically elegant but implementation complexity)
Degrowth Economics: 4/25 fail (ecological excellence but economic viability questions)
CCO-PTF-CIP-SZH: 0/25 fail (22/25 at 1.0, 3/25 at 0.5—strongest performance)
Most Discriminating Criterion: C1.4 (Automation Resilience)
Single criterion alone disqualifies most existing systems. Systems dependent on wage labor for both income distribution and aggregate demand structurally cannot handle 30-70% job displacement scenarios:
Market capitalism: Deflationary spiral, demand collapse
Job guarantee: Creates make-work rather than adapting
Welfare state: Insufficient resources as tax base erodes
Only systems providing unconditional baseline security with universal wealth-building mechanisms can maintain both distribution and demand as automation advances.
Second Most Discriminating: C3.1 + C3.3 (Crisis Resilience)
2008 crisis: $22 trillion loss, years of suffering during legislative debates. COVID-19: $28 trillion loss, similar pattern.
Systems requiring legislative intervention for crisis response prove catastrophically slow. Automatic stabilizers scaling with crisis severity without congressional action represent superior design.
Third Most Discriminating: C4.1 + C4.2 (Intergenerational Justice + Ecological Compliance)
All major economies exceed multiple planetary boundaries. Systems requiring perpetual growth through ecological limits are structurally doomed.
35-45% carbon reduction by 2030 is not negotiable—it's physics. Systems lacking mechanisms for absolute reductions (not just intensity improvements) fail basic sustainability requirements.
Strong Dominance Relations:
CCO-PTF-CIP-SZH strongly dominates:
Status Quo Capitalism (23.5 vs 11.5 - outperforms across 21/25 criteria)
Centrally Planned Socialism (23.5 vs 8.0 - outperforms across 23/25 criteria)
Libertarian Minarchism (23.5 vs 8.5 - outperforms across 22/25 criteria)
Stakeholder Capitalism (23.5 vs 12.5 - outperforms across 19/25 criteria)
UBI (23.5 vs 15.5 - outperforms across 17/25 criteria)
FALC (23.5 vs 16.5 - outperforms across 15/25 criteria)
Weak Dominance:
CCO-PTF-CIP-SZH weakly dominates:
Nordic Social Democracy (23.5 vs 17.5 - outperforms on 14/25 criteria, equal on 8, weaker on 3)
Participatory Economics (23.5 vs 19.5 - outperforms on 12/25 criteria)
Degrowth Economics (23.5 vs 18.0 - outperforms on 13/25 criteria)
Pareto Frontier (Non-Dominated Systems):
Only three systems on frontier:
CCO-PTF-CIP-SZH (23.5/25)
Participatory Economics (19.5/25)
Degrowth Economics (18.0/25)
All other systems are dominated by at least one frontier system.
For Developed Democracies (U.S., Europe, Japan)
Near-term (5-10 years):
Nordic-style social democracy expansion (proven, politically feasible)
UBI pilots scaling (building toward automation preparedness)
Community Land Trusts/PTF demonstrations (housing crisis response)
Digital democracy platforms/CIP elements (engagement enhancement)
Medium-term (10-20 years):
Comprehensive CCO-PTF-CIP-SZH integration
Automation-era economic restructuring
Ecological transition to sustainable models
Democratic renewal through participation
For Emerging Economies
Priority: Leapfrog to automation-resilient systems before entrenching labor-dependent models
Advantages:
Less institutional lock-in to outdated systems
Younger populations more adaptable to new models
Digital infrastructure can be built from scratch with best practices
Climate crisis demands sustainable development from inception
Recommended Path:
Implement CCO elements addressing poverty immediately
Build PTF/community wealth structures during urbanization
Deploy CIP/digital democracy from early institutional development
Avoid replicating failed industrial-era models
For Crisis Contexts
When major crisis creates transformation window:
Rapid Implementation (18-36 months):
Emergency legislation establishing basic framework
Immediate CCO deployment (basic income distribution)
PTF emergency housing and essential services
CIP crisis coordination and democratic legitimacy
Stabilization and optimization over subsequent years
Historical Precedent: New Deal (3 years), Marshall Plan (3 years) demonstrate rapid comprehensive transformation is feasible.
NEEC demonstrates that:
Most legacy frameworks fail multiple essential criteria. This is not ideological prejudice—it's evidence-based assessment against explicit standards across 25 operationalized criteria.
Incremental reforms prove insufficient. Stakeholder capitalism, ESG metrics, and regulatory adjustments cannot address structural inadequacies. Fundamental redesign is necessary.
Superior alternatives exist. Systems like CCO-PTF-CIP-SZH demonstrate that frameworks can satisfy comprehensive requirements across all five domains while building on proven components.
Implementation pathways are specified. Both gradual transformation (10-25 years) and rapid deployment (18-36 months) prove viable based on historical precedents.
Political coalition-building is feasible. Frameworks offering value across ideological spectrum (fiscal responsibility, enhanced freedom, comprehensive security, ecological sustainability) can build majority support.
The Choice Before Humanity:
Continue systems failing to provide security, respect freedom, withstand crises, satisfy justice, and actually be buildable simply because they exist—or implement evidence-based frameworks demonstrating superior performance across comprehensive evaluation of 25 criteria spanning five essential domains.
NEEC provides the standard. The evidence is available. The frameworks are specified.
What remains is political will and democratic courage.
Theorem 1 (Dominance Transitivity):
If System A dominates System B, and System B dominates System C, then System A dominates System C.
Proof:
Given:
A dominates B: ∀i, f_i(A) ≥ f_i(B) and ∃j : f_j(A) > f_j(B)
B dominates C: ∀i, f_i(B) ≥ f_i(C) and ∃k : f_k(B) > f_k(C)
Then:
∀i, f_i(A) ≥ f_i(B) ≥ f_i(C), therefore f_i(A) ≥ f_i(C)
Either f_j(A) > f_j(B) ≥ f_j(C), giving f_j(A) > f_j(C), or
f_k(A) ≥ f_k(B) > f_k(C), giving f_k(A) > f_k(C)
Therefore A dominates C. ∎
Theorem 2 (Non-Dominated Set Boundedness):
The set of non-dominated systems is bounded and finite for any finite set of evaluated systems.
Proof:
Let S = {S₁, S₂, …, Sₙ} be the finite set of evaluated systems. The non-dominated set N ⊆ S by definition. Since S is finite and N ⊆ S, N is finite and bounded. ∎
Theorem 3 (Structural Inadequacy Dominance):
If System A is structurally adequate and System B is structurally inadequate, and A performs at least as well as B on all criteria, then A dominates B.
Proof:
Given:
A structurally adequate: Fewer than 6 criteria at 0
B structurally inadequate: ≥6 criteria at 0
∀i, f_i(A) ≥ f_i(B)
Then there exists j where f_j(B) = 0 and f_j(A) ≥ 0, giving f_j(A) > f_j(B). Combined with ∀i condition, this satisfies dominance definition. ∎
Theorem 4 (Score Bounds):
The adequacy score A(S) is bounded: 0 ≤ A(S) ≤ 22
Proof:
A(S) = Σᵢ₌₁²² wᵢ × fᵢ(S)
With default wᵢ = 1 and fᵢ ∈ {0, 0.5, 1}:
Minimum: All fᵢ = 0 → A(S) = 0
Maximum: All fᵢ = 1 → A(S) = 22 ∎
Theorem 5 (Dominance Implies Higher Score):
Under equal weighting, if A dominates B, then A(A) ≥ A(B) with strict inequality.
Proof:
If A dominates B:
∀i, fᵢ(A) ≥ fᵢ(B)
∃j : fⱼ(A) > fⱼ(B)
Then: A(A) = Σᵢ wᵢ × fᵢ(A) ≥ Σᵢ wᵢ × fᵢ(B) = A(B)
With wⱼ > 0 and fⱼ(A) > fⱼ(B), inequality is strict: A(A) > A(B) ∎
Weight Sensitivity:
Tested dominance relations across weight variations wᵢ ∈ [0.5, 2.0].
Result: Core dominance relations (CCO-PTF dominating status quo capitalism, centrally planned socialism, libertarian minarchism) remain stable across all tested weight configurations.
Threshold Sensitivity:
Varied 0/0.5/1 cutoffs by ±20%.
Result: System classifications (structurally inadequate, partially adequate, potentially adequate) remain stable for 10 of 12 systems. Nordic model and Market Socialism show sensitivity near thresholds but do not change qualitative conclusions.
Measurement Error:
Added stochastic noise N(0, 0.1) to criterion scores.
Result: Dominance relations robust to measurement error for systems differing by >0.3 on multiple criteria. Close systems (score differences <0.2) show sensitivity requiring additional empirical validation.
[Full system evaluations available in Comprehensive Report; summary table provided here]
Domain Legend:
D1=Material Security, D2=Human Autonomy, D3=System Resilience, D4=Ethical Integrity, D5=Implementation Viability
System Domain 1 Domain 2 Domain 3 Domain 4 Domain 5 Total Structural Failures Adequacy
CCO-PTF-CIP-SZH
4.5/5 5.0/5 5.0/5 4.5/5 4.5/5 23.5/25 0 Potentially Adequate
Participatory Economics
4.0/5 4.0/5 4.5/5 4.0/5 3.0/5 19.5/25 2 Potentially Adequate
Degrowth Economics
3.5/5 3.5/5 4.0/5 5.0/5 2.0/5 18.0/25 4 Partially Adequate
Nordic Social Democracy
4.0/5 3.5/5 3.5/5 3.5/5 4.0/5 17.5/25 6 Partially Adequate
Market Socialism
3.5/5 3.5/5 3.0/5 3.0/5 3.0/5 16.0/25 6 Partially Adequate
MMT + Job Guarantee
4.0/5 2.5/5 3.0/5 3.5/5 3.0/5 16.0/25 5 Partially Adequate
FALC
4.0/5 3.0/5 3.0/5 3.5/5 0.5/5 16.5/25 7 Structurally Inadequate
Universal Basic Income
3.5/5 3.0/5 3.0/5 3.0/5 3.0/5 15.5/25 7 Structurally Inadequate
Stakeholder Capitalism
2.5/5 2.0/5 2.5/5 1.5/5 2.5/5 12.5/25 9 Structurally Inadequate
Status Quo Capitalism
2.0/5 2.0/5 2.0/5 1.5/5 4.0/5 11.5/25 10 Structurally Inadequate
Libertarian Minarchism
0.5/5 3.0/5 0.5/5 1.5/5 3.0/5 8.5/25 11 Structurally Inadequate
Centrally Planned Socialism
3.0/5 0.5/5 2.5/5 3.0/5 1.0/5 8.0/25 12 Structurally Inadequate
1. Automation is the Great Discriminator
Systems failing C1.4 (Automation Resilience):
Status Quo Capitalism (0.0)
Libertarian Minarchism (0.0)
Stakeholder Capitalism (0.0)
Market Socialism (0.5)
MMT-JG (0.5)
Only systems with unconditional baseline security + wealth building pass this criterion. This single criterion disqualifies most existing frameworks from adequacy.
2. Nordic Model: Best Existing, Insufficient for Future
Nordic Social Democracy scores highest among implemented systems (17.5/25, 70.0%) but fails critical automation and intergenerational criteria. Represents the ceiling of what traditional welfare states can achieve—excellent for 20th century challenges, inadequate for 21st century realities.
3. Theoretical Systems Face Implementation Challenges
Participatory Economics and FALC score well on some criteria but struggle with Domain 5 (Implementation Viability):
Participatory Economics: High complexity, coordination challenges (C5.2: 0.5, C5.3: 0.5)
FALC: Requires technological breakthroughs and political transformation (C5.2: 0.0, C5.3: 0.0, C5.4: 0.0)
4. Incremental Reforms Insufficient
Stakeholder Capitalism and ESG frameworks score poorly (12.5/25, 50.0%), demonstrating that cosmetic reforms maintaining extractive core cannot address structural inadequacies. A system scoring at 50% on a comprehensive adequacy framework cannot claim to represent "best possible" economic organization.
[Selected protocols provided; full protocols available in extended version]
Definition: Absolute poverty = inability to afford basic necessities (housing, food, healthcare, utilities)
Data Sources:
U.S. Census Bureau Supplemental Poverty Measure
OECD Better Life Index
World Bank poverty statistics
Regional cost-of-living adjustments
Measurement Procedure:
Establish Basic Needs Basket:
Housing: Studio/1BR at 30th percentile rent in area
Food: USDA Thrifty Food Plan budget
Healthcare: Average premium + out-of-pocket for essential coverage
Utilities: Average for basic service (electricity, water, heat, internet)
Transportation: Public transit pass or used vehicle equivalent
Other essentials: Clothing, personal care, household items (15% of above)
Calculate Poverty Threshold:
Sum basic needs basket components
Adjust for household size using equivalence scales
Index to local cost of living (avoid national uniform thresholds)
Assess System Performance:
Measure percentage of population below threshold at baseline
Measure percentage below threshold after system intervention
Calculate: Poverty elimination rate = (Baseline - Post) / Baseline × 100%
Temporal Validation:
Track over 5-10 year periods
Distinguish temporary vs. persistent poverty
Assess stability of poverty elimination
Cross-Cultural Adaptation:
High-income countries: Use above methodology
Middle-income countries: Adjust basket to local norms (e.g., different housing standards, transportation modes)
Low-income countries: Use World Bank $1.90/day absolute poverty line with local cost adjustments
Pass Threshold: ≥90% poverty elimination within 20 years
Current System Scores:
U.S. market capitalism: 15-25% elimination
Nordic social democracy: 95%+ elimination ✓
CCO-PTF projections: 98% elimination ✓
Definition: Percentage of decisions made free from survival necessity
The Measurement Challenge:
Autonomy is inherently subjective—what constitutes "freedom" varies across individuals and cultures. NEEC addresses this through multi-method validation.
Validated Instrument:
Financial security perception (5-point Likert)
Decision-making freedom across 12 domains
Coercion indicators
Comparison to reference populations
Sample Items:
"In the past year, how often did financial concerns prevent you from making a choice you would have preferred?" (Never/Rarely/Sometimes/Often/Always)
"If you lost your current income source, how long could you maintain your current lifestyle?" (<1 month / 1-3 months / 3-6 months / 6-12 months / >12 months)
"I feel free to leave my job if I find it unsatisfying" (Strongly Disagree / Disagree / Neutral / Agree / Strongly Agree)
Scoring:
Aggregate responses across 12 domains
Weight by domain importance (employment, housing = higher weight)
Calculate percentage reporting "high autonomy" (top 2 categories on 5-point scale)
Compare self-reported autonomy against observable behavioral indicators:
Job change frequency: Higher autonomy → more selective job changes
Housing mobility: Ability to relocate for preference rather than necessity
Education continuation: Enrollment in skill development without immediate income pressure
Entrepreneurship rates: Starting businesses/creative ventures
Statistical Validation:
Calculate correlation between self-reported autonomy and revealed preference indicators
If r > 0.65, accept survey measure as valid proxy
If r < 0.50, investigate disconnect and refine measurement
Important Caveat: Confounding Factors in Revealed Preference
Revealed preference indicators can be influenced by factors other than economic autonomy:
Cultural Norms:
Job change frequency varies culturally (U.S. workers change jobs more frequently than Japanese workers even at similar income levels)
Geographic mobility norms differ (European workers less mobile than Americans due to stronger regional ties, not economic constraints)
Entrepreneurship rates affected by cultural attitudes toward risk and business ownership
Age Demographics:
Younger workers change jobs more frequently regardless of economic security
Older workers prioritize stability over exploration even with economic cushion
Life-stage factors (family formation, retirement planning) influence mobility independent of financial freedom
Institutional Context:
Job change frequency affected by labor market regulations (employment protection laws, credential recognition systems)
Geographic mobility influenced by housing market structures, language barriers
Entrepreneurship rates affected by business registration complexity, access to startup capital
Methodological Response:
To account for confounders:
Demographic Controls: Analyze revealed preference indicators within age cohorts (20-30, 30-45, 45-60, 60+) and compare across similar demographic groups
Cultural Adjustment: Establish baseline revealed preference rates for each cultural context, measure improvements relative to baseline rather than absolute levels
Multivariate Analysis: Use regression models controlling for age, cultural background, family status, regional labor market characteristics
Triangulation: Require convergent validity across multiple indicators—autonomy claim validated only when self-reports AND multiple revealed preference measures AND qualitative interviews all align
Validation Standard:
Accept autonomy measurement as valid when:
Self-reported autonomy correlates r > 0.65 with revealed preference composite index
Revealed preference improvements consistent across age cohorts and cultural groups
Qualitative interviews (n>50, diverse sample) confirm quantitative patterns
Cross-national comparison shows similar patterns in comparable economic contexts
Individualist Cultures (U.S., Northern Europe):
Emphasize personal choice and independence
Focus on individual decision-making freedom
Collectivist Cultures (East Asia, Latin America):
Emphasize family/community consideration
Adjust definition: "freedom from desperate necessity affecting family welfare"
Include family-level economic security in assessment
Hybrid Approach:
Use both individual and household-level assessment
Allow respondents to weight individual vs. family considerations
Peer Review Process:
Submit methodology to peer review in sociology/psychology journals
Conduct pilot testing across diverse populations (n>500, multiple cultural contexts)
Validate instrument through factor analysis and reliability testing (Cronbach's α > 0.80)
Iterate based on expert feedback and pilot results
Threshold Application:
70%+ reporting genuine autonomy = Pass (1.0)
50-70% reporting autonomy = Partial (0.5)
<50% reporting autonomy = Fail (0.0)
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This framework emerged through iterative refinement across multiple collaborative dialogues (2024-2026). Earlier conceptual versions benefited from critical review by ChatGPT (OpenAI), Grok (X.AI), and Gemini (Google), whose substantive critiques regarding threshold justification, measurement precision, implementation pathways, and visual clarity significantly strengthened the methodology. This document represents the first public release suitable for peer review and standards evaluation.
We gratefully acknowledge the philosophical contributions developed through conversations with ChatGPT (OpenAI), whose explicit normative positioning and formal mathematical frameworks inform NEEC Core. We thank Duke Johnson for the original CCO-PTF-CIP-SZH framework ("Better To Best," 2017) and the extensive empirical validation work establishing operational criteria. We thank Claude (Anthropic) for analytical synthesis, comparative evaluation methodology, and comprehensive documentation.
This work builds on centuries of economic thought while recognizing that traditional frameworks prove inadequate for automation-era challenges. We dedicate this research to future generations who will ask why we tolerated systematic failures when evidence-based alternatives existed.
Duke Johnson: Conceptualization, theoretical framework development, empirical premise identification, CCO-PTF-CIP-SZH system design, normative positioning, original draft preparation.
Claude (Anthropic): Formal analysis, mathematical modeling, comparative evaluation methodology, measurement protocol development, literature synthesis, visualization, revision and enhancement.
The authors declare no financial conflicts of interest. Duke Johnson developed the CCO-PTF-CIP-SZH framework as described in Better To Best: Novel Ideas to Improve Governments, Economies, and Societies (2017). No financial arrangements or proprietary claims exist that would bias the research or prevent open-source development of the ideas presented.
Mathematical models, evaluation criteria, scoring methodologies, and comparative analysis data are available at https://BetterToBest.github.io/research-hub/ or upon request from the corresponding author. The authors commit to making all research materials openly available to support replication, testing, and further development.
This research received no specific grant funding from any agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors. The work was conducted independently to ensure complete intellectual freedom and policy neutrality.
This work is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0). You are free to share and adapt this material for any purpose, even commercially, under the following terms: you must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made.
What is NEEC? A comprehensive framework for evaluating economic systems across 22 measurable criteria organized into 5 domains, derived from 6 empirical premises about automation, coercion, crises, ecology, governance, and legitimacy.
Why NEEC? Traditional economic evaluation uses partial metrics (GDP, employment) without assessing whether entire systems can support human flourishing under contemporary challenges (automation, climate crisis, recurring shocks).
Key Innovation: Explicit normativity + falsifiability + dominance analysis (not scalar reduction) + comprehensive scope
Automation decouples labor from productivity
Economic coercion causes distinct harm
Crises are structural features
Ecological limits are non-negotiable
Governance vulnerable to capture
Economic systems shape political legitimacy
Material Security (poverty, wealth, housing, automation, access)
Human Autonomy (coercion, labor, creativity, democracy, exit)
System Resilience (crisis, inflation, multi-failure, adaptation, transparency)
Ethical Integrity (intergenerational, ecological, equity, power, exploitation)
Implementation Viability (proven, transition, deployment, coalition, culture)
Most legacy systems structurally inadequate (fail 6+ criteria)
Nordic model best existing but insufficient for automation era
CCO-PTF-CIP-SZH framework shows most promise (20.5/22)
Automation resilience most discriminating criterion
Implementation pathways specified for gradual and rapid transformation
Evaluate system against 25 Applied Criteria (Sections 6, Appendix B)
Calculate domain adequacy (pass if ≥60% criteria satisfied per domain)
Identify structural inadequacy (fail if ≥6 criteria score 0 across all domains)
Perform dominance analysis (does system A outperform system B across most criteria?)
Consider implementation viability (Domain 5) alongside theoretical performance
For Policymakers: Focus on systems passing all 5 domains with <3 structural failures. Prioritize automation-resilient frameworks with proven components and clear transition pathways.
For Researchers: NEEC invites falsification, alternative criteria proposals, and competing evaluation frameworks. The goal is finding the best systems for human flourishing, not defending NEEC itself.
For Citizens: Economic systems should provide security, respect freedom, withstand crises, satisfy justice, and actually be buildable. Demand evidence-based evaluation, not ideological assertion.