What arrives
Automation returns flowing to a few holders, and that money moving into the goods no one can make more of. Prices of coast, central land, and housing near work rise faster than earned income. A family with no land of its own can no longer reach the shore, buy near a job, or hold a home across generations. The holders did nothing wrong; the field simply closed.
What must exist first
Credit limits on buying existing scarce goods, and the closed-field test.
- Credit limits. Lending to buy existing scarce goods is limited, so their prices track earned money, not borrowing.
- The closed-field test. Does a fair share of the coast stay outside the largest holders? Do sites still come to market? Can someone with no family land still reach the shore?
- Rising obligations when the answer turns to no. More public access, and limits on buying more of the same good.
- The same rules for every buyer. Non-resident holdings, institutions, and governments count in the test; cross-border financing faces the same limits.
- Looking through wrappers. Trusts and companies are traced to the people behind them.
Why it is cheaper first
Limiting further purchases is easy; undoing holdings is not. A credit limit stops a purchase before it happens and touches no one’s property. Undoing a concentration already formed means taking holdings back, which is slow, fought in court, and itself becomes a concentration of enforcement power. Regulators already hold the tools for credit limits.
Readiness states
| State | What it looks like |
|---|---|
| Started | credit limits on second homes or investment purchases in some markets; the closed-field test published |
| In place | limits applied to all buyers of existing scarce goods, wherever they live; the test run each cycle |
| Tested | scarce-asset prices tracking earned income through a surge in automation returns |
What to start now
Use the lending limits regulators already have for existing scarce goods. Publish the closed-field measures for the coast and central land. Count non-resident and institutional holdings in them from the start.
Where it is worked out
- Who holds what is scarce: keeping the field open, and how the rules bind governments and institutions
- Who creates money: the brake on scarce-asset prices
- The global loop: foreign buyers under the same rules