Imagination and branding create such products and services and the desire to consume them. You can see the essential elements of a modern services economy in action under a big white tent in downtown Hong Kong. Canada's Cirque du Soleil invented a service nobody knew they needed in 1984 and has successfully reinvented it ever since. There is no way of knowing where the next great idea is going to come from in a modern economy. New ideas often sprout at society's margins.
Street performers are a colourful example.
More typical perhaps are small-business owners or renegade scientists. Small businesses in many Asian countries have a tough time because governments or big companies, often acting together, distrust the market and strangle innovation in the name of stability. Similarly, renegade scientists and engineers need the freedom to dream. Silicon Valley shows what happens when they do. What distinguishes these marginal individuals on the fringes of the economy is that money isn't everything to them.