Update 7-27-2025 – He added a 5th video Post-Labor Economics Lecture 05 – “Bridging the Gap” (2025 Update)

as well as a long podcast – Full Post-Labor Economics Deep Dive and Book Preview! Interview with Dalibor Petrovic

I am looking forward to the book.

original post below

Over the past couple weeks, I’ve been diving deep into David Shapiro’s Post-Labor Economics lecture series (linked below — all around 40 min). I’ve listened to each one twice, and then used a mix of ChatGPT, Copilot, and Grok to create four 10-point summaries — one per video. Then I asked ChatGPT to synthesize those into a single meta-summary of the core ideas.

Here are the 4 videos. Each about 40 minutes long. 

Post-Labor Economics Lecture 04 – “Day 1 Implementation & Solutions” (2025 Update) 

Post-Labor Economics Lecture 02 – “Economic Agency Paradox” (2025 update)

Post-Labor Economics Lecture 03 – “That which gets measured gets managed!” (2025 update)

Post-Labor Economics Lecture 04 – “Day 1 Implementation & Solutions” (2025 Update)

ChatGPT – Here is a 10-bullet-point meta-summary that synthesizes the key themes and insights from all four “Post-Labor Economics” video summaries:

1. Automation is Inevitable and Transformative: AI and robotics are displacing human labor across all sectors, making wage-based employment increasingly obsolete while simultaneously threatening consumer demand and economic stability.
   
2. Economic Agency is the Core Concern: Individuals require labor rights, property ownership, and voting rights to retain agency. As labor rights erode, property rights become the cornerstone of financial autonomy.
   
3. The Demand Paradox: Businesses want to automate to cut costs but still need paying customers. Without jobs, people can’t spend—creating a structural contradiction that leads to economic collapse unless resolved.
   
4. Rethinking Metrics: The EAI: Traditional KPIs like GDP and unemployment are no longer sufficient. The Economic Agency Index (EAI) measures household income sources (property, wages, transfers) and highlights the need to prioritize ownership income.
   
5. UBI: Helpful but Not Enough: Universal Basic Income is necessary as a safety net but inadequate on its own due to inflation risk, governance issues, and centralization. It must be paired with decentralized, property-based income streams.
   
6. Ownership is the New Wages: Future economic resilience depends on expanding access to trusts, wealth funds, co-ops, patron equity programs, and digital tokens to replace lost labor income with ownership-based dividends.
   
7. Counties as Innovation Labs: With 3,100 U.S. counties, local governments are ideal sites for experimenting with and scaling post-labor economic models, offering granular data and tailored policy solutions.
   
8. Banks as Economic Interfaces: Banks will evolve into the primary economic hubs, managing dividend flows, investment portfolios, and identity verification, replacing the role of traditional employers in financial life.
   
9. Guardrails Against Technofeudalism: Preventing elite capture and concentrated corporate control is critical. Transparency, participatory governance, and broad-based ownership are essential safeguards.
   
10. Market-Driven, Not Ideological: Post-labor economics distinguishes itself from socialism and communism by preserving markets and private property. Its goal is not wealth redistribution through state control, but wealth inclusion through distributed ownership and market-based tools.

I continued to have a conversation with ChatGPT to understand further. 

I asked it “”How does post-labor economics differ from individuals simply investing in the stock market to generate passive income?”

It gave a very nicely formatted response, below. 

🧩 TL;DR: It’s Not Either/Or

Buying stocks is one tool — a good one — for individual financial freedom.

But post-labor economics is about designing an entire economy where capital income is as normal, widespread, and accessible as having a job once was.

It’s not just you winning the game — it’s everyone getting a seat at the table.

Great question — and an important one.

🤔 At first glance, post-labor economics might sound like:

“Just buy stocks and live off dividends — problem solved.”

But post-labor economics goes beyond that in a few key ways. Here’s how it’s different from individuals simply investing in the stock market:

🏛️ 1. System Design vs. Personal Strategy

• Stock investing is an individual solution — you build capital and income for yourself.
  
• Post-labor economics is a system-wide redesign — it’s about building structures where everyone can participate in ownership, even if they don’t have savings, brokerage accounts, or financial literacy.
  

💵 2. Barriers to Entry

• The stock market requires:
  
  • Disposable income
    
  • Access to financial tools
    
  • Risk tolerance
    
  • Education
    
• Post-labor models focus on lowering those barriers by:
  
  • Distributing residency-based dividends
    
  • Creating local trust funds
    
  • Offering non-transferable community equity (you don’t have to “buy in”)
    

🏘️ 3. Ownership of Local, Tangible Assets

• The stock market mostly involves ownership of national or global corporations.
  
• Post-labor economics emphasizes ownership of local assets: businesses, land, water rights, data, energy — things that create direct, community-level income streams.
  

Owning Amazon stock ≠ owning the gas station, solar field, or rental housing in your own town.

🤝 4. Shared Governance & Resilience

• When you buy stock, you have no governance power, unless you’re a billionaire activist investor.
  
• Post-labor structures are built on shared governance — resident voting, dividend boards, and community stewardship.
  

💬 5. Not Everyone Can or Will Invest

• A huge portion of the population has no stock market exposure. About 45% of Americans own no equities at all — and among the bottom 50% of income, it’s more like 10–15%.
  
• Post-labor economics seeks to bake ownership into the system so that even non-investors receive income from capital.
  

🧠 6. Ownership as Policy, Not Privilege

• Stock investing is optional and personal.
  
• Post-labor economics treats ownership as infrastructure — like roads or clean water. It should be available to all by design, not just those who planned ahead or got lucky.
  

🌐 7. Resisting Elite Capture

• The stock market concentrates wealth — the top 10% own over 85% of equities.
  
• Post-labor models try to decentralize ownership — giving communities a stake in the economy before everything gets bought up by private equity or mega-corps.
  

🛠️ 8. Designed for the Age of Automation

• Stock market investing was never intended as a wage replacement for the masses.
  
• Post-labor economics is explicitly built to answer:
  

“What happens when jobs disappear, but people still need income?”

My next question. 

“What mechanisms does post-labor economics use to avoid the tragedy of the commons when assets are collectively owned?”

✅ TL;DR:

Post-labor economics avoids the tragedy of the commons by turning shared access into structured, incentivized, accountable co-ownership.

It’s not a free-for-all — it’s a designed economy, where people are rewarded for taking care of what they collectively own.

Excellent question — and one of the core design challenges of post-labor economics.

The tragedy of the commons refers to a situation where a shared resource is overused or neglected because no one feels personal responsibility. In a post-labor economy — where ownership is distributed rather than concentrated — this is a real risk. But it’s not unsolvable.

Here’s how post-labor economics intentionally designs around the tragedy of the commons:

🧩 1. Move from “Common” to “Co-Owned”

• The key shift is from open access (commons) to structured, governed co-ownership.
  
• Think: community trusts, resident shares, dividend boards — where everyone has skin in the game, not just access.
  

📜 2. Define Clear Rights and Responsibilities

• Successful post-labor models include smart governance charters:
  
  • Who can vote?
    
  • Who maintains assets?
    
  • How are profits used?
    
  • What happens if you leave?
    
• This clarity prevents freeloading and aligns incentives for stewardship.
  

💰 3. Tie Participation to Rewards

• Dividends aren’t just handed out — they can be tied to local contribution:
  
  • Show up to meetings
    
  • Volunteer hours
    
  • Local residency
    
  • Use the service or shop locally
    
• This ensures that ownership feels earned, not distant or abstract.
  

📊 4. Transparency and Dashboards

• Many models propose using public dashboards to show how community-owned assets are performing.
  
• When people see the numbers — usage, revenue, maintenance costs — it creates accountability and pride.
  

🧑‍🤝‍🧑 5. Decentralized Governance Structures

• Rather than one central authority, post-labor systems push decisions downward:
  
  • Counties manage their own trusts
    
  • Co-ops elect local boards
    
  • Banks help automate compliance and distribution
    
• Local control = stronger stewardship.
  

🏦 6. Hybrid Ownership Models

• Some assets are shared (like land or solar arrays), while others are individually owned (tokens, local equity).
  
• This creates a blended structure where people benefit both as individuals and collectively, reducing the temptation to abuse shared goods.
  

🛡️ 7. Guardrails Against Elite Capture

• Ironically, many “commons” in the modern economy (like housing or water) have already been captured — just not by the public.
  
• Post-labor models bake in protections: voting caps, local-only ownership, anti-speculation rules, etc.
  

It’s a powerful framework. Personally, I’m still focused on achieving my own financial freedom — and I encourage everyone to do the same. But once we secure our own foundations, we’re in a much better position to help build a freer, more equitable world for everyone.