The Comedy of the Commons

How does order emerge from anarchy? How do human beings create institutions? Can big problems — like climate change, income inequality, or AI alignment — find solutions “from below,” through collective action, rather than “from above,” i.e., imposed by regulatory bodies?

Today’s guest is a fascinating economist. Professor Paul Dragoș Aligică is a senior research fellow at the Program for Advanced Study in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, and a Professor of Governance at the University of Bucharest.

Paul believes that we are living through the third great moment in human history, after the transition to agriculture and the industrial revolution. What will this third moment be about?

Far too broad to pigeonhole, he’s a visionary public choice theorist and a student of renowned economists Vincent and Elinor Ostrom (the latter won the Nobel Prize for Economics in 2009). Paul has thought long and hard about the strange inflection point our world seems to be hurtling towards. It’s a slow burn of an episode, one where interesting and complex ideas are laid out carefully, before Damir and Santiago engage Paul in sussing out their implications.

Does Paul think that public choice theory means the world has hope? How do we fix the seemingly intractable problems posed by capitalism and globalization? Tune in to find out.

Required Reading and Viewing:

• Paul Dragoș Aligică’s personal website.

• Elinor Ostrom, Governing the Commons (Amazon).

• What is the Tragedy of the Commons? (Harvard Business School).

• Elinor Ostrom on Ending the Tragedy of the Commons (Big Think on YouTube).

• Santiago Ramos, “What Does McDonald’s Mean?” (WoC).

This post is part of our collaboration with the University of Pittsburgh’s Center for Governance and Markets.

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