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

Episode Summary

Political Economist Glen Weyl joined us to discuss his new book 'Radical Markets', which explores how the structure of capitalism and democracy could be uprooted to lead to a more just society.

Episode Notes

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