Knowledge markets and visible hands

The global financial system is at risk of being disrupted by the climate crisis. Local societies will continue to require some means to carry out value exchange transactions in substitution of or addition to a monetary base. Knowledge markets (k-markets) offer a wide range of options beyond legal tender and the banking system. Furthermore, k-markets provide an alternative path to an environmentally viable post-Holocene economics. K-markets are defined as value exchange systems where the quantity, quality, and terms of interactions amongst agents are determined primarily by the dynamic properties of intellectual capital creation and exchange. These include the attributes of knowledge-based value as well as a distinctive ethos and organizational design. Based on this, a taxonomy of k-markets is introduced, with a characterization for each category. The resulting map may contribute to understand the uniqueness of these schemes, to capitalize on their transformative power and to debunk free-market economy.