Do economic sectors built on prepaid and "pay to play" labor exist? If so, what does it mean?

[richardhutnik]

Kasz216 said:

You forgot the biggest reason.

People CAN work for free.

Afterall, we have a safety net so people don't starve and plenty of families are well off enough that they can support people who want to work for free for a bit.

Though people did this stuff for free all the time before too... it was called a hobby. The difference was they weren't enabled to pursue it with more then part time.

Like Einstein... and for every Einstein there were a dozen more failures no doubt.

A lot of the past's scientists were rich kids who loved science and worked at it for free.  That was a case of the opposite really, a traditionally "free work" action getting monetized.

For example... Darwin.  Did Darwin even have a job?

What happens in the economy where what was traditionally "free work" (intellectual property creation) is the only growth area happening, and there is crowdsourcing as a norm?  Does this mean that, the end result will end up necessitating an increased social safety net, funded by tax dollars, or something else?

My focus isn't on what can, but what the economy could drive things to be.  What if can, becomes MUST, or else individuals stand NO chance of ever making it.  And the marketplace ends up producing a means by which individuals can keep generating IP for free, so they aren't driven out?  In such an environment, don't the rules historically seen with supply and demand change such that the supply never drops, thus being able to drive up prices as the basic rules of supply and demand dictate?  In such an environment, outside of a welfare state, how do people end up surviving and being able to make a living?