{"id":30,"date":"2009-06-23T11:46:22","date_gmt":"2009-06-23T15:46:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/lawlab\/?p=30"},"modified":"2009-06-29T16:59:49","modified_gmt":"2009-06-29T20:59:49","slug":"demystifying-the-%e2%80%9cwealth-of-nations%e2%80%9d-by-julius-o-akinyemi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/lawlab\/2009\/06\/23\/demystifying-the-%e2%80%9cwealth-of-nations%e2%80%9d-by-julius-o-akinyemi\/","title":{"rendered":"Demystifying the \u201cWealth of Nations\u201d By Julius O. Akinyemi"},"content":{"rendered":"

A case for how Developing Nations (especially African Nations) can create and grow wealth, and be key players in Global Growth and Prosperity.<\/em><\/p>\n

Economists from time immemorial have questioned and researched why some nations have been able to grow wealth and some have not. Transforming an underdeveloped economy to a developed economy requires long term strategic mapping as well as a huge amount of capital outlay. This project is aimed at providing practical solutions tailored to the local environment that leverages the convergence of existing technologies to register people and life events e.g. Birth, Death, Marriages, Assets (of all kinds \u2013 houses, lands, Goats, Cows, livestock etc), Owners trades\/Profession, and through economic modeling, mobilize the currently dormant trillions of dollars in local assets in developing nations to generate capital in the local economy via Asset Securitization. We will provide through economic modeling, a global standardized index that financial institutions can use to better assess individual\u2019s worth and improve the lending practices. This process will generate needed capital in developing nations. Additionally, this process of asset securitization will provide transparency and accountability for invested and loaned funds to the various nations by the World\u2019s financial organizations e.g. IMF.<\/p>\n

Recent GDP statistics published by the IMF \u2013 World Economic Outlook<\/a> – notes that the United States alone generates 23.5% of the world\u2019s GDP, while Africa and South America jointly produce about 10%. Clearly, this is not a function of the size of the population, as Africa and South America combined are far more populous than the USA and by the same comparison, the combined land resources of Africa and South America are far larger than the USA. It could be argued however, that Africa and South America\u2019s larger areas of pristine, unpolluted land and atmosphere provide an invaluable, global asset, when compared to most of the industrialized world, who have larger areas of depleted ozone layers, and yet these spaces are under constant threat by individuals who see the exploitation of these resources as their only realistic economic options; or, more sadly, as the path of least resistance to vast personal wealth. The undervaluing of Developing World resources in fact shows a dramatic skewing of our global value system. <\/p>\n

On a recent visit to South Africa, as I took off from Cape Town, I admired the beauty of the land from a bird\u2019s eye view and I thought to myself that such property in my current resident city of Greenwich, Connecticut, USA would be worth far more than in South Africa. This lead to the question of why such a condition exists and what can be done to mend this disparity in value? In a literature review spanning key works such as \u201cGood Capitalism, Bad Capitalism\u201d , to \u201cThe Mystery of Capital\u201d to “The Birth of Plenty\u201d , most of the current writing seems to throw up a common thread, which weaves together the assumptions that the tenets of prosperity are based on the following pillars: 1. Property rights, 2. Civil laws that protect property rights and empowered courts to adjudicate, 3. Capital Generation, 4. Innovation and Entrepreneurship, 5. Adequate Infrastructure.<\/p>\n

A Proposed Roadmap to Prosperity:<\/strong> <\/p>\n

In most developing economies, one or more of these pillars is missing. More prevalent is the establishment of property rights through diverse cultural systems, and the protection thereof with cultural norms and civil laws. A potential approach to these non-Western, yet complex and traditional valuation systems, which I have not seen in any of the prior research, is to leverage new technology to create a local and nationwide \u201ceRegistry\u201d of all assets (land, real property, farms, cows, goats and so on) that then can be converted into a globally understood and accepted common currency. <\/p>\n

As with the development of the Internet, which did not come from a single technology but from the timely convergence of multiple streams of technological development, the convergence of new technologies has the potential to enable asset owners, regardless of location or type of asset, to partake in an artificial nervous systems that can begin to sense, capture, record, transmit and even value an asset in nanoseconds via the eRegistry.<\/p>\n

By the same token the \u201ceRegistry\u201d could be used as an eGovernment Revenue Generation base, Census and Population Control Issues database, Disease control and Health and wellness resource etc.<\/strong> The \u201ceRegistry,\u201d when enabled with data mining capabilities and localized economic models that consider local economic nuances, can easily predict future pricing of assets, local market behaviors and, when intelligently used with proper governance processes, will build a second understanding and \u201clayer\u201d of that society for both individuals and the community at large by allowing for another, more global perspective of individual and communal wealth to emerge. With this model, a new Digital Global Common Currency<\/strong> will emerge that can enable global open capital sourcing. The eRegistry will enable us to build an Entrepreneurial Information Exchange Platform that could be analogous to a real-time global commerce commodities trading floor. The Information Exchange will also become an open platform for Virtual Doctors and Health Care Services, Local Commodities Trading, Media for Capital Generation, Quantitative tool for Micro credit lending efficiency, as well as products and services brokerage functions. <\/p>\n

The assumption is that, by having people understand the value of their assets in a new way, which complements their traditional understandings, this can help them to leverage those assets in a more global setting, build the local economy and achieve a higher standard of living for the whole global community. <\/strong><\/p>\n

Once the eRegistry database is created and secured\/certified by local government, the stage is set for building a local economic model that can translate each asset value to indexes that can be universally applied to lend money based on the owner(s)\u2019 asset value anywhere in the country, and eventually worldwide. This National asset net worth could then be leveraged to create a Community Bank that is mandated to cater to small street vendor entrepreneurs in developing countries so they can be more productive and expand their businesses, thereby generating more wealth for entrepreneurs within respective countries. While the entrepreneurial spirit of street vendors is globally recognized, such tiny businesses need help from the national common purse that will elevate them from poverty and help them contribute to economic growth. With this asset registry and universal pricing in place in \u201ceRegistry\u201d, lenders can verify ownership, check for encumbrances if any, place liens if appropriate, and hence eliminate the risk of loss\/fraud while at the same time generating capital that grows the economy. This eRegistry essentially acts as a \u201cthird medium\u201d between a localized economy based on traditional systems, and a global economy based on Western systems.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Enabling Technologies<\/strong>: The most important technologies that we are converging to build the asset registry and modeling system<\/strong> are:<\/p>\n

Cloud computing that connects government to citizens, business to business, business to consumers, versatile and inexpensive sensing; ubiquitous wireless networking; social networking, and real time data mining to extract useful information and insight about assets pricing \u2013 present and future. Finally, with the smart sensor capabilities, assets of all kinds can be easily registered through sensing and transmittal using simple cell phones and other handheld receiving devices powered by the new \u201cMobile Cloud Computing\u201d capabilities.<\/p>\n

Benefits<\/em>: The potential benefits of this eRegistry are as follows:<\/p>\n

\u2022\tCreates a reliable data source for more accurate Census\/Population control activities
\n\u2022\tCreates a National and Global inventory and source of wealth
\n\u2022\tUnlocks the Wealth of each Nation for a better global prosperity
\n\u2022\tCreates an Index that will be portable and can be replicated at the national level as well as possibly globally to source capital for local Entrepreneurs
\n\u2022\tBecomes a robust platform for other capital-generating financial systems .e.g. Micro-Credit financing, etc.
\n\u2022\tSelf-generates Capital to fuel the local economy
\n\u2022\tEncourages and develops Entrepreneurial Spirit needed to grow an economy
\n\u2022\tMinimizes and reduces poverty
\n\u2022\tImproves the quality of life
\n\u2022\tAssures more accurate citizen\u2019s participation in the local government\u2019s election process
\n\u2022\tCreates new Industries for new jobs, e.g.,
\n o\tAsset appraisal and valuation
\n o\tAsset Insurance
\n o\tRisk Management
\n o\tEconomic forecasters
\n o\tAsset Management – The ability to monetize the equity in assets that have been valued for future investments
\n\u2022\tPromotes Cleaner Society
\n\u2022\tCreates other products and services that result from the new ideas e.g. Water vending machines managed by current roadside vendors, organized Roadside Mechanics, etc.
\n\u2022\tImproves Tax Revenue Generation for the nations. Tax revenue is needed to effectively run the government and provide civic society services including individual Rights protection which is currently unavailable in most remote locations. And when available, the property value is grossly understated for minimal taxation reasons.<\/p>\n

Planned Implementation Approach:<\/strong> <\/p>\n

The planned implementation approach includes:<\/p>\n

\u2022\tCollaboration between MIT Media Lab and Harvard Law School – Berkman Center
\n\u2022\tSolicit for IMF\/World Bank and UN organizations Sponsorship as well as Private Sectors.
\n\u2022\tEngage the Local governments that are ready as Co-Sponsors with full on-the-ground participation from local staff.
\n\u2022\tDevelop an economic education platform e.g. \u201cEconoForce\u201d to educate the citizen in asset and capital management
\n\u2022\tEngage local citizens as much as possible in the process to have a vested interest in the success of the renewed way of building wealth for their countries, given this is a \u201cCitizen Centric\u201d project.<\/p>\n

TO BE DECIDED BUT MY WISH AND BELIEVED STRATEGIC WAY FORWARD. <\/em><\/p>\n

\u2022\tEstablish a joint center for \u201cDemystifying the Wealth of Nations\u201d<\/strong> that will focus on:
\n o\tAdequate knowledge transfer to make the new system sustainable.
\n o\tContinued cross pollination of knowledge and innovation between the
\n countries and the MIT\/Harvard partnership for a better world.
\n o\tContinued Entrepreneurial spirit incubation.
\n o\tContinued Civil Society Economic Empowerment.<\/p>\n

Schedule and Timeline:
\n The schedule and timeline of this initiative is as follows:
\n\u2022\tEstablish stakeholder group \u2013 30 days
\n\u2022\tFormalize launch and implementation plan \u2013 60 days
\n\u2022\tSelect pilot countries \u2013 90 days
\n\u2022\tBegin implementation \u2013 120 days<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A case for how Developing Nations (especially African Nations) can create and grow wealth, and be key players in Global Growth and Prosperity. Economists from time immemorial have questioned and researched why some nations have been able to grow wealth and some have not. Transforming an underdeveloped economy to a developed economy requires long term […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1764,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[6336,6267,2277],"class_list":["post-30","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-akinyemi","tag-cloudlaw","tag-op-ed"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/lawlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/lawlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/lawlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/lawlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1764"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/lawlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/lawlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/lawlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30\/revisions\/32"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/lawlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/lawlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/lawlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}