Is there something like a Coase for democratic politics? Firm/market/law/transaction costs/social costs? Not school civics. More like Fukuyama’s stuff or Selectorate Theory, but institutional. I’m thinking parties, media, mobs as first-order. Maybe firms and demagogues too.
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Venkatesh Rao Retweeted Byrne Hobart
Public choice theory feels more analogous to regular or behavioral economics than coasean though.
It offers analytical insights but doesn’t seem to suggest a natural and satisfying ontology. Something you could use in a toy-world simulation for eg.https://twitter.com/ByrneHobart/status/1316568173051863043 …Venkatesh Rao added,
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Hmm. Maybe a direct analogy would work Firm = party Market = media Law = Overton window/pc norms etc Social costs = fake news, disinformation that distorts media the way social costs distort prices Transaction costs = cost of actually forming an opinion on an issue.
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Breaking down transaction costs as we normally do: Search costs = figuring out what political issues correlate to private interests. Like realizing GDPR matters if I run a website. Negotiating costs = cost of forming an opinion Monitoring costs = cost of tracking the issue
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Joining a party = joining a firm Contract = party line Main macro thing of interest in coasean economics is not gdp or interest rates but firm size distribution. By analogy, in politics it should be faction-size distribution.
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Venkatesh Rao Retweeted Jason Potts
Ah! This is promising. Acemoglu is the why nations fail guy.https://twitter.com/profjasonpotts/status/1316572112140734464 …
Venkatesh Rao added,
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Venkatesh Rao Retweeted Jason Potts
Never heard of Trent Macdonald, interesting....
https://twitter.com/profjasonpotts/status/1316572726455279617 …Venkatesh Rao added,
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Alright, this is kinda the trailhead I was imagining should exist. Into a Roam page it goes. Thanks @profjasonpotts
pic.twitter.com/dwi0zzch9q
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