Glen Weyl: Radical Markets – Uprooting Capitalism and Democracy for a Just Society

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The rise of populism and increasing inequality have led to widespread questioning of democracy and capitalism. Glen Weyl, a political economist and Principal Researcher at Microsoft, along with legal scholar Eric Posner, published a book called ‘Radical Markets’. Radical Markets explores how restructuring property rights and voting systems could lead to more efficient markets and a more just society. Glen joined us to discuss the book and why the blockchain space is a fertile testbed to explore these radical new ideas.

Topics covered in this episode:

• Why blockchain is on a trajectory to exacerbate inequality and fail at improving the world
• Why property should be seen as a monopolistic institution
• How property rights create inefficient markets
• The radical idea of transforming property rights via a Common Ownership Self-Assessed Tax (COST)
• How the one-person-one-vote system contributed to the crisis of democracy
• How quadratic voting works and leads to fairer outcomes
• Whether or not buying of votes should be allowed in QV
• His work with Vitalik and radical markets experiments in blockchain

Episode links:

• Radical Markets
• Glen Weyl Website
• Property is Only Another Name for Monopoly (2017)
• On Radical Markets - Vitalik Buterin Book Review
• Liberation Through Radical Decentralization – Post by Vitalik & Glen
• This economist wants to abolish private property using blockchain | Wired

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This episode is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/251