“I’m finally starting to read Eric A Posner & Glen Weyl’s book Radical Markets: Uprooting Capitalism and Democracy for a Just Society. It’s an incredibly broad ranging, deep and profound look at how we could reshape markets — digital markets in particular — in order to make them fairer. It’s nothing short of a guidebook for how to protect liberal democracy. I’ll be writing future columns and pieces on some of the ideas put forward in the book."
“We have to keep thinking about how we can put forward the kinds of political alternatives that will allow us to beat Donald Trump, to beat the populist wave around the world…One of the more interesting…ideas to do that in recent months is a really interesting new book by Glen Weyl and Eric Posner called Radical Markets: Uprooting Capitalism and Democracy for a Just Society.”
“I'm only a 1/3 of the way through@glenweyl's book & it's already stimulated 2 solid, practical market design ideas I want to try out in online markets. I had high expectations for this book, but it's even better than I expected - read it!."
"... some of their proposals are interesting and should be given serious thought. The book chapters on land monopolies and voting, for example, raise problems and suggest solutions that the left could build upon for more radical (little “r”) outcomes. Their chapter on corporate market power raises interesting questions."
“'Radical Markets'...it's well worth the price. The book isn't just engaging and exceedingly well-written. Its policy proposals and vision are thought-provoking enough to inspire twenty blog posts."
“Well this is the most interesting thing I’ve read in ages! A credible alternative to private property!”
"This is free market thinking but not as we know it."
“Posner and Weyl have written a classic, worthy of the spirit of their radical liberal forbears. I recommend it to anyone with an open mind...Besides economists, I recommend it to political philosophers and their customers, politicians: Posner and Weyl offer a definitive solution to the populist storm that hovers over the liberal order...An awesome set of proposals for a difficult time."
"I highly recommend this book! Replacing markets by auctions (sort of). Whether you agree or not, it shows how much liberalism is able to renew itself."
"What I love is just some new ideas, because the existing ideas to solve the injustices and inequalities aren’t working! A must-read."
“Read this difficult and provocative book. It made my head hurt, and then spin. In a world where our current economic and political models are worth defending but are straining, this can only be a good thing.”
“Posner and Weyl deserve credit for doing what few scholars are willing or able to do, offering audacious ideas that breach canned ideological and disciplinary boundaries. This is a book for people who seek out bold thinking and fresh perspectives, and its self-conscious category defiance follows that of its inspiration [Henry George]... It rejects and transcends the banalities and false dichotomies of the prevailing conversation, confident in the power of its ideas and of ideas generally.”
“In 1903, Elizabeth Magie patented her Landlord’s Game, a property-based board game. It was created with two sets of rules: a monopolist set in which, when wealth was created, the winner took all; and an anti-monopolist set in which all wealth created was shared across society. It is revealing that only the former set of rules took off, giving birth to the multi-million pound best-selling game known as Monopoly. In many respects, the real world has imitated this choice in its own set of societal rules.This fascinating new book by Glen Weyl and Eric Posner, Radical Markets, begins to sketch a vision of how society might look if it adopted Magie’s second set of societal rules. Unlike in a board game played with monopoly money, the stakes in this societal game could scarcely be higher and the importance of this book could scarcely be greater.”
“Radical Markets…could be best described as an interesting new way of looking at the subject that is sometimes called 'political economy' - tackling the big questions of how markets and politics and society intersect…All in all, I am optimistic that the various behavioral kinks around implementing 'radical markets' in practice could be worked out...I particularly welcome the use of the blockchain and crypto space as a testing ground…Could decentralized institutions like these be used to solve the key defining challenges of the twenty first century? All in all, I highly recommend Radical Markets…to anyone interested in these kinds of issues, and look forward to seeing the discussion that the book generates.”
“The new revolutionaries in economic thought come for the University of Chicago…who have the ambition of using market mechanisms to combat the excesses of capitalism…This innovative proposal deserves debate at a moment when the left lacks new ideas to combat inequality in the face of mounting populism.”
“I loved the book. I don’t believe it, but I loved it.”
"The most provocative and nearly mind blowing economics book has been Radical Markets by Eric Posner and Glen Weyl."
“In our difficult times, with mounting anxieties over migration, global inequality, and the cohesiveness of public culture, many are inclined to reject market-based solutions as heartless and elitist. Eric Posner and Glen Weyl argue that market-based ideas of a radically new sort (though based on neglected insights from the past) have the power to create greater equality and reciprocity. Counterintuitive and fascinating, this book will be an essential part of the debate about global issues going forward.”
“Doesn’t anybody have anything new to offer? . . . . [Y]es: . . . unleash the awesome power of markets . . . to uplift the poor . . . it just might be what the world needs now. . . . [Posner and Weyl are] smart and iconoclastic, and their book bursts with ideas like kernels of corn on a hot stove.”
“It’s extremely thought provoking and clearly brilliant…Radical Markets certainly made me think about property, information, power. Well worth reading.”
“(A)n arresting if eccentric manifesto for rebooting liberalism…the policies they advocate…may help jolt liberals out of their hand-wringing, and shape a new line of market-oriented thinking, as Milton Friedman’s ‘Capitalism and Freedom’ did…refreshing and welcome in its willingness to question received wisdom…(L)iberals must find some antidote to populism and protectionism. A little outlandishness may be necessary.”
“There are a lot of very provocative and very well thought-out ideas in there and it is more than worth a read…I think I talked to this guy for thirty-five minutes, which is somewhat unheard of in the radio world, and would have talked to him for at least an hour longer.”
“This system has enormous potential — simple, fair, progressive taxes and a more dynamic economy. It would be much easier to develop new infrastructure, build new homes, buy your neighbour’s garden, and pour concrete all over twee villages to build monorails or airport runways.”
“Capitalism stands charged with increasing inequality...and slowing growth. Faced with this disenchantment the solutions proposed by...Posner...and...Weyl...put this wisdom on the back foot by proposing the extension of market mechanisms to the very functioning of society. The solutions they advocate are as breathtaking as those in Milton Friedman's Capitalism and Freedom sixty years ago..."
“'Laissez-faire Socialism' sounds like an oxymoron but Radical Markets makes a good case for it. While I'm generally skeptical of "post-capitalism," typically neo-Marxist solutions to today's issues, there are a couple of compelling proposals in this book.”
“From time to time, humanity is faced with transformations so profound that the very model of organization of the economy and politics is questioned…For Eric Posner, a law professor at the University of Chicago, and Glen Weyl, an economist at the Microsoft Research Institute, society today is experiencing one of those moments of questioning…The solution, for them, involves new ways of taxing the property, a new electoral system and a model that remunerates Internet users for the use of their personal data. These are bold proposals and hard to implement. But the idea of the American authors has drawn the attention of the most influential economists of the world. People like Kenneth Rogoff, former chief economist of the International Monetary Fund, say the book is the most ambitious attempt to rethink markets and democracy since the work of the American economist Milton Friedman (1912-2006).”
“Do read book - interesting throughout! Not convinced w underlying claims about monopolization & inequality mainly reflecting markets not working, but some policy ideas nevertheless fascinating solutions to genuine problems.”
“I don't say this lightly but it is my firm belief that this is the most consequential work of political economy of the 21st century. If you haven't already, RUN out and buy a copy.”
“'Radical Markets'...has made me deeply question my fundamental view of how the global economy should work in ways I have not done in almost ten years...Since I learned undergraduate economics and until i read this book I was convinced that private property was a necessary precondition to prosperity and I thought there was nothing you could say to convince me otherwise. Well, they make an astonishingly compelling case against it..Before I read Radical markets I think I was just resigned to our current system being approximately first best and couldn't see how to upend entrenched wealth inequalities without damaging prosperity in a major way. That book convinced me another world might be possible."
“Both a savage critique of 'techno-feudalism' and an idealistic appeal to share the fruits of our collective intelligence more fairly.”
“This book is a fascinating book filled with ideas and at some abstract level I see it as presenting a new set of rules of the game that if we were to adopt these rules…I believe that these rules would produce economic growth and would reduce inequality in our society. I’ve actually never read a book with so many ideas all bundled together.”
“Overall, this book has renewed my confidence that mechanism design is a powerful tool for social change. Combined with the decentralizing potential of cryptocurrencies, market radicalism could forever change the landscape of political economy. No longer is it necessary to strike a balance between freedom and equality; by fully unleashing the potential of markets, both can be maximized simultaneously. I would highly recommend reading this book; even if you don’t like the proposals, it will give you a taste of the potential of mechanism design for radical social change.”
“Many of today’s boldest thinkers across the ideological spectrum think the economy’s most serious malady isn’t inequality, populism or big government: it’s monopoly...Now, from the libertarian end of the spectrum comes a more radical approach...redesigning market mechanisms from the ground up to break monopolies’ hold on our data, property, economy and even politics.”
“It's radical, it's market-oriented, and it's going to drive conversation and policy for decades to come. Glen and Eric do a deep dive into the art and science of mechanism design, a field at the intersection of economics and engineering. They explore how quadratic voting can optimize electoral outcomes, dig into the implications of a futuristic tax system that would make Henry George swoon, and much more. Heartily recommended.”
“It will pay the readers…great intellectual returns to invest significant time in studying this book very carefully. It is ambitious and bold, and I think it should excite the imagination and motivate careful scholarship and analytical rigor among both critics and those who want to pursue the line of argument laid out.”
“Implementation of their daring and original ideas could spur global economic growth to levels not seen for more than half a century, while simultaneously reducing income inequality significantly."
“Vitalik of Ethereum believes quadratic voting to be a leading candidate to address governance problems on blockchain”
“(T)he ‘decentralized revolution’ has yet to…truly change things for the better…A new book…might hold the answer. ‘Radical Markets’ is reinvigorating the Ethereum ecosystem with ambition to change the world…by helping create a more just and fair society….While Weyl is somewhat of an outsider in the cryptospace, he might be exactly the type of thought leader the Ethereum ecosystem needs.”
“These ideas will creep into public discourse and be fought tooth and nail by the elites and the wealthy…sounds like a socialist attack the rich and the corporate establishment, but many label him ‘extreme right’ because he offers more open, liquid and competitive markets than…anyone has imagined to this day.”
“Weyl may well wind up becoming Ethereum’s chief economic thinker.”
“It strikes me as a very important book indeed….Radical Markets is excellent, and well worth reading. For me, a good non-fiction book is one which occasionally forces me to stop reading and just think for a while. This one did that several times.”
"Radical Markets is at its best in pointing out the sectors of the economy that are most in need of dramatic reform."
"At a time when U.S. politics chews relentlessly on stale ideologies left over from the Cold War, the originality and ambition of these ideas make for refreshing science fiction. Like good scientists, Posner and Weyl stress the need for testing and evaluation. Yet what makes their proposals seem especially fictional nowadays is the presumption of a functioning technocracy in search of evidence-based, win-win solutions to common problems. If nothing else, this book is a reminder of how far from sober rationality American government has come."
“I applaud the ambition of the book, and hope to see more like it...Their best proposal come in section one…For property that is publicly known and visible, such as land and patents…this idea seems ready to go live, and I endorse it…Overall, it is great to see a wider public becoming exposed to ambitious proposals for social reform based on solid social design analysis.”
“Eric Posner & Glen Weyl’s Radical Markets: Uprooting Capitalism and Democracy for A Just Society is an enormously ambitious new book, one that challenges conventional wisdom and advances bold reform programs…There is much to admire and quite a bit to endorse in Posner and Weyl’s willingness to rethink the obvious, their resistance of the conventional wisdoms of both right and left…and their imaginative reform proposals."
“Radical Markets thinks big and builds daring proposals, all on a unified theme: the need for maintaining competition and eliciting decentralized information, whose neglect led to the demise of planned economies. Whether you are convinced by the specific proposals or not, your confidence in your worldview may well be shattered by the depth and originality of the analysis.”
“The most important part of [this] book are the ideas: radical, interesting. There were things I thought I knew for sure that I wasn’t sure I knew afterwards.”
“One of the most exciting books in the social sciences published in the past several years. Very original, using a consistent ideological approach, and intellectually compelling.”
“It is supremely creative and wildly provocative, with new approaches to property, voting (governance), immigration, institutional investing, the value of data, and more. As a physicist, I'd say that this book is 'perturbing around a different ground state' than our current political and economic systems. I don't agree with all of it, but it's definitely worth a read!”
“(I)f you’d rather spend the summer completely rethinking capitalism, “Radical Markets” might be your coup of tea. There, Eric Posner and Glen Weyl argue against private property -- and for treating the data we generate on the internet and elsewhere as akin to labor. But unlike other accounts seeking to uproot capitalism, the logic here comes not from a desire to constrain markets, but rather to make them more all-encompassing.”
“Just came from watching the genius@glenweyl present#RadicalMarkets. Anyone interested in economic policy would be enriched by thinking through these visionary ideas for themselves, whatever they conclude.”
"A very thought-provoking book is a bizarre fusion of ideas drawn from the classical liberal . . . . and socialist tradition(s). . . . It contains ideas . . . that really do make you think. It is a really fun book to read and of you are someone who actually likes having your suppositions and beliefs challenged, take a look at it."
“Each era gets its own version of 'property is theft.' And now... Posner and...Weyl...have delivered one for the era of markets. Radical Markets: Uprooting Capitalism and Democracy for a Just Society is an original and inventive effort at what you might call 'market socialism.' It’s worth reading both for the practical ideas that can be repurposed for the current U.S. economy and for the interesting ways in which the authors’ more extreme ideas go wrong."
“Perhaps the most ambitious attempt to rethink democracy and markets since Milton Friedman. Twenty years from now this just might be the book people are talking about. The writing is excellent, with great examples and historical detail. I admire the ambition and willingness to experiment, a rare thing in economics these days. It just might help launch a new branch of political economy.”
“In Radical Markets...Posner and...Weyl propose a radical restructuring of property rights, immigration policy and voting...For all of these positions, they make clever and sometimes compelling arguments...I hope that policymakers and others will outright reject...Posner and Weyl’s drastic proposal for undercutting property rights and substantially redistributing wealth. On the other hand, I hope they implement the quadratic voting proposal and increase individual Americans’ ability—while not taking away corporations’ ability—to hire immigrants."
“A central persuasive ambition of Radical Markets is to ignore the traditional left-right debate that dominated the twentieth century...Its well-founded, out-of the-box solutions address, in a stroke, all sorts of major social challenges. That make it a refreshing and dazzling book for readers interested in radical new solutions. Whether it can convince the critics of mainstream economics with its plea for ever more radical markets is the leading question.”
"Radical Markets is a book whose relevance to the rethinking of capitalism rivals that of Thomas Piketty's bestseller Capital in the 21st Century."
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