What do we mean when we talk about the human qualities and competencies that shape the essence of an individual and indicate their level of development? They can be described as the basic skills and competencies that are natural and universal for all humans, regardless of their external differences, and which can be assessed to determine the development level of the individual and the society. We will name four of them:

• personality strength

• responsibility

• understanding

• morality

It is safe to say that the development of these qualities in any individual or the society in general correlates to the overall development level of that person or the society. The more pronounced these qualities are, the higher the overall level of development, and vice versa. Let’s talk briefly about each quality.

Personal strength is the actual level of power that each person feels within themselves, which is necessary to perform any activity. This is the primary attribute that defines the status or scale of an individual, determines their identity. How much power do I feel inside? Who do I consider myself to be? The way a person answers these questions determines what they feel like. This can also be derived from the way that person behaves in their actions and relationships with other people.

Responsibility means an area in which an individual is able to provide order. Each person chooses a particular level or scale of responsibility, which is determined by the size of the area they are able to control. For some, this area may be limited to “just me”, others take responsibility for themselves and their family; some people can be responsible for as much as an enterprise or even a country. The real responsibility can be measured by the degree of order established within the respective area. If the order is not secured, responsibility cannot be confirmed.

Understanding means the level of understanding – some people understand little, some understand more, some understand a lot. Like responsibility, actual understanding must be verified by practice.

Morality as a word comes from the Latin ‘moralitas’, which means “manner, proper behavior” – which in turn describes one’s taste for life. Some people’s tastes are quite low – bad habits, disorderly behavior, fondness of destructive activity, lack of motivation for development. Others have good tastes – aspiration to constant creative work, the sense of order, beauty, and a love for the people. This determines a person’s level of morality.

But let’s go back to the economy. Based on the above, we can say that the economy of the near future will be a hybrid of commercial and non-profit mode of operation, where every action will be evaluated in terms of its positive social impact, regardless of whether it is produced by commercial or noncommercial means. Since intangible spheres of activity (alone or in combination with tangible production) have immeasurably greater potential for having positive social impact in relation to the old-time tangible production sectors, these new sectors will eventually acquire greater commercial value as they are gradually incorporated into the regular economy. Eventually the new sectors based on intangible or hybrid production will gain economic independence and become the undisputed leaders of the new economy. The old, purely tangible industries (manufacturing of commodities with zero intangible value or utility) will either receive a complementary intangible module, to become hybrid in nature and get integrated into the economy of the future, or will disappear, becoming a thing of the past.

The economy of the future is the economy of mutual exchange of intangible values and tangible values that have acquired the status of manifestation or carrier of intangible values. In other words, there will be tangible things carrying intangible value, or a tangible thing will be part of a module combining tangible and intangible items that have a positive social impact or meaning to a person and/or the society. That is, all the products in the economy of the future will have an intangible module, representing their positive social impact.

The economy of the future will assign the greatest value to those products carrying intangible value that offer an opportunity to increase the development level of the humans (i.e. their qualities and competencies). These can be products in the field of information, knowledge, culture, or any other field. Accordingly, the leaders of the new economy will be those industries and enterprises that create such products.

The logic and model of the new human behavior in the economy of the future will be based on the understanding of values as products of positive social impact, that is: “I buy something that will make me better (as a person, in the sense of the development of my qualities and competencies), increase my development level and will therefore improve my financial well-being.” That is, the entire society will be working to create a more developed person, which in turn, through having all the necessary qualities and competencies, will contribute to the development of themselves and the society, thus acquiring even greater development and helping others to develop and fully supporting themselves and those around them financially. It is crucial to highlight that the development agenda is not forced or compulsory for anyone. Everything must happen freely, exclusively because of individual’s goodwill and desire. The reason is that the society understands that each person has their own development level and stage, their own development path, which they feel and identify on their own.

From here emerges an open, free economy of mutual benefit, of mutual positive impact, where everyone has their own understanding of the benefit to themselves, to the others, and to the society, and also acquires a corresponding measure:

• the personal capital – that is, the individual inner self-perception

• the social capital, that is, collective external measure – social recognition, status, social opportunities, etc.

• financial capital, that is, individual external measure – money and things surrounding that person

In other words, the more benefit and positive impact a person produces, the more capital of each type they earn.

All human and social interaction will be translated into the equivalent of positive social impact and its corresponding measure, including social and financial capital.

All products in the new economy will be assigned a positive impact index, which measures the usefulness of each product for the new human and social development paradigm. The higher the positive impact index a product has, the greater its cost, and therefore the value in terms of personal, social and financial capital. This will affect producers, sellers and buyers of these products accordingly. That is, the producers, sellers and buyers will all gain personal, social, and material capital by producing, selling and buying products with a higher positive impact index.

The concept of social value and capital must include, among other things, social recognition and appreciation for those who produce and buy products with a high positive impact index. This recognition can be expressed through specific additional social opportunities, such as the respective increases in social standing, “social doors,” “social elevators,” the opportunity to take on more important and responsible social positions, the opportunity to receive support from social funds working for the development of the new society.

In the economy of the future, all products, including ordinary material products, will be labeled according to their positive impact index (PII) on humans and the society, on a scale from extremely destructive through neutral, safe, and ultimately high positive impact.