Applying Goodhart’s Law to GDP, this article argues that GDP-targeted economic management has system-atically destroyed what it cannot measure: communal land management, reciprocal labor networks, ecologi-cal knowledge, and the local provision of food and shelter. The Mundell-Fleming trilemma compounds thispathology internationally, rendering large-scale monetary redistribution structurally self-defeating. Univer-sal Basic Income inherits both defects: it distributes money — a fugitive asset that flows immediately torent, debt, and global supply chains — within a framework that has already destroyed the non-market insti-tutions money cannot rebuild. Drawing on historical evidence from three independent civilizations — theAztec calpolli, the Andean ayllu, and the Japanese village community — this article proposes an alterna-tive principle: local distribution of non-fugitive assets (food, shelter, and the productive infrastructure thatgenerates them) through community-level institutions. These systems sustained millions for centuries to mil-lennia with per-hectare productivity exceeding industrial agriculture, while generating employment, socialcapital, and ecological sustainability. Non-fugitive distribution performs a triple function UBI cannot repli-cate: crisis-resistant safety net (land does not evaporate in financial crises), structural employment creation(community management is non-scalable and immune to AI displacement), and social capital regeneration(collective resource management produces trust as a structural byproduct). Modern expressions — Com-munity Land Trusts, Community Supported Agriculture, the Mexican ejido, and Zapatista autonomousgovernance — demonstrate implementability. The article proposes a two-layer economy: a communallymanaged non-fugitive foundation providing subsistence security, with market exchange operating freelyabove it — not replacing UBI but building the foundation without which UBI cannot function.
Ryuhei ISHIBASHI (Sun,) studied this question.