An Open Economy for Main Street

The What Works Project concept of an open economy is the result of the application of the principles of Open Capital as promoted by Chris Cook. Open Capital is a concept of partnership finance that can be applied to a peer-to-peer platform for resource sharing within the context of interfirm collaboration achieved through the sharing of risk and rewards and the creation of shared access to capital, credit and human resources open to all persons participating in a federation of networked firms and communities that enter an open corporate framework of trust.



Risk is shared through a marketplace trade cooperative where trade credit between buyers and sellers is subject to mutual guarantee for undated, non-amortized lines of credit.



Revenues are shared through co-ownership of productive assets and shared use of capacity by investors and operating business principals.



Business-to-business and business-to-community collaboration is created through the networking of firms in a federation where all principals, management, employees and allied community organizations co-operate a system of interfirm collaboration that creates access to capital, credit and human resources to all persons participating in the federation.