---
schema: 1
type: term
title: '**the allocation economy**'
description: >-
  **The allocation economy** is the idea that people will work with AI agents
  the way managers work with people — _delegating_ to them, knowing when to
  micromanage, and splitting tasks into discrete units to hand out. In the
  channel's material, this 2023 framing is presented as the best predictor of
  which skills matter most when working with
  AI.[^1c5729f0-aa49-5017-8b76-b56651ca5602@108][^1c5729f0-aa49-5017-8b76-b56651ca5602@141]
canonical: >-
  https://liquidgold.cc/channel/everyinc/explore/term/the-allocation-economy-72ce309f86ca
markdown: >-
  https://liquidgold.cc/channel/everyinc/explore/term/the-allocation-economy-72ce309f86ca.md
llms: null
parent: 'https://liquidgold.cc/channel/everyinc/llms.txt'
channel: everyinc
updated: '2026-10-23T22:12:35.346Z'
language: null
children: []
---


# \*\*the allocation economy\*\*

Canonical: https://liquidgold.cc/channel/everyinc/explore/term/the-allocation-economy-72ce309f86ca

Parent: [Channel index](https://liquidgold.cc/channel/everyinc/llms.txt)

## Definition

**The allocation economy** is the idea that people will work with AI agents the way managers work with people — _delegating_ to them, knowing when to micromanage, and splitting tasks into discrete units to hand out. In the channel's material, this 2023 framing is presented as the best predictor of which skills matter most when working with AI.[^1c5729f0-aa49-5017-8b76-b56651ca5602@108][^1c5729f0-aa49-5017-8b76-b56651ca5602@141]

**The allocation economy** is the idea, written by the presenter of *AI Was Supposed to Save Time. Why Am I Busier?* three years before the video, that we will work with AI agents the way **managers** work with people: *delegating* to them, knowing when to micromanage, and splitting tasks into discrete units to hand out.[^1c5729f0-aa49-5017-8b76-b56651ca5602@108] The presenter points out that this analogy, written in 2023, is turning out to be the **best predictor of which skills matter most** when working with AI.[^1c5729f0-aa49-5017-8b76-b56651ca5602@141]The term anchors the channel's broader exploration of AI and work: Every, the 25-person company behind the piece, uses it as a lens on its own experiment — everyone there is an early adopter testing models, making the company a small **lab** for what work with agents looks like.[^1c5729f0-aa49-5017-8b76-b56651ca5602@196] In practice the economy shows up in two shapes: informal **Slack delegation** to bots like Claudie, Andy, and Victor, and structured **agent orchestration software** like Codex and Co-work.[^1c5729f0-aa49-5017-8b76-b56651ca5602@229][^1c5729f0-aa49-5017-8b76-b56651ca5602@283] Manager-like skills — delegation and task decomposition — are the ones that transfer best into this world, which is why the allocation economy connects the channel's material on Compound Engineering to its coverage of jobs and the future of work.- The allocation economy frames humans as **managers of agents**: delegating, micromanaging when needed, and splitting work into discrete hand-out tasks.[^- Written in 2023, the analogy has become the best predictor of which skills matter most with AI.[^- It underpins the channel's paradox: cheaper AI expertise means *more* demand for manager-like human skills, not less.[